THE  LIBRARIES 


Bequest  of 
Frederic  Bancroft 

1860-1945 


2 


FIRST  CATHOLIC   BISHOP 
OF  CHICAGO 


By 
afolfn  E.  mc(Bur.  A.  m..  iR.  D. 

Professor  of  Anatomy  and  Physiology,  Chemistry  and  Botany 

in  the  University  of  St.  Mary  of  the  Lake 

Chicago,  Illinois 


1^ 


rsprinted  undeit  the  direction  of 

His  gracb  The  Most  revehend  georqe  W.  mundelein 

abchbismop  of  chicago 

on  the  occasion  of  the  diamond  jubilee  of  the  archdiocese 

ay 

ST      MART'S  TRAINING    SCHOOL    PRESS 
DES    PLAINES.    ILLINOIS 

1920 


•  «  .•,•••••         •* 

•  ••••  •  ••J«** 


i  ••     •      t      • 

•I        •     •    •    «     *       « 

•  «       •        •     » 


.AA 


Sight  aruprniti  William  Qpiiartrr.  S.  i. 

JFirat  ?Staha;i  uf  (llhirauia 


tJo  the 

ijcxii  «Jvc^,  iValtex  ^>|oAcpn  ocuattct,  (J.*:/, 

This  feeble  effort  to  recall  the  labors  tuid  virtues 

of  his  deceased  brother  is  respectfully 

dedicated,  as  a  token  of  personal 

regard,  by  the  author. 


^nitx 


CHAPTER  I.  PAGE 

From  his  birth  until  his  departure  for  America     ...       i  J 

CHAPTER  II. 

From  his  departure  for  America  until  his  appointment  as 

Pastor  of  St.  Mary's  Church  in  New- York     ...       J  9 

CHAPTER  III. 
Hismissionary  labours  at  St.  Mary's  in  New- York       .     .      3/ 

CHAPTER  IV. 

From  his  Consecration  for  the  See  of  Chicago  until  the 

end  of  the  first  year  of  his  Episcopal  labours       .      .      42 

CHAPTER  V. 

From  the  commencement  of  the  second  year  of  his  Episco- 
pacy until  his  Death 03 

CHAPTER  VI. 
Reviewof  his  labours;  his  character;  conclusion    ...      79 

I* 


l^xticitt 


N  writing  this  Life,  I  have  endeavoured 
to  keep  in  view  the  fact,  that  the  early 
years  of  Bishop  Quarter  gave  the 
promise  of  that  virtuous  career  which 
his  after  life  realized:  and  therefore 
have  I  dwelt  upon  the  manner  of  his 
early  training.  Again:  I  have  introduced  observa- 
tions that  might,  to  some,  seem  not  strictly  war- 
ranted by  the  subject;  but  it  will  be  found,  I  think, 
that  they  go  to  describe  the  danger  and  violence  of 
a  disease,  so  that  the  judicious  selection  of  the  rem- 
edy applied  by  the  Bishop  and  the  success  of  the 
cure,  may  the  more  fully  exhibit  the  skilfulness  of 
the  physician. 

To  guard  every  loop  hole,  to  avoid  every  error, 
would  be  impossible.  Nothing  terrestrial  escapes 
the  common  condition  of  imperfectibility ;  and  the 
writer  has  besides  to  urge  in  extenuation  of  his 
errors,  the  novelty  of  his  situation  in  appearing 
before  the  public  as  the  author  of  a  book. 

Would  that  it  were  worthier!  with  all  its  faults, 
however,  it  is  sent  forth,  confident  that  the  reader 
will  look  rather  to  the  subject  of  the  picture  than 
to  the  manner  of  the  colouring ;— to  the  gem,  than 
to  the  setting. 
Chicago,  April  iqth,  1849 


3Intrabuction 


"Example  is  a  globe  of  precept."' — Bacon 


Example  rules  the  world.  The  warrior  upon 
his  country's  battle-field  performs  prodigies  of 
valour,  and  whether  the  cause  in  which  he  fights  be 
just  or  unjust,  his  individual  merits  are  blazoned 
upon  the  historic  page.  Youths  dwell  upon  the 
relation  of  these  exploits,  and  in  spirit  they  are 
warriors.  The  statesman  in  the  senate  chamber 
defends  successfully  an  important  political  prin- 
ciple;— thousands  of  his  party  laud  his  efforts,  and 
from  the  hands  of  the  untiring  press  his  opinions 
are  scattered  broadcast  over  the  land.  Youths  are 
anxious  to  be  statesmen,  to  gain  the  world's  renown, 
and  the  fame  which  it  values  is  their  only  governing 
motive. 

The  history  of  a  generation  affords  thousands  of 
instances  in  which  example  stamps  the  character  and 
seals  forever  the  fate  of  its  deluded  victims;  and  if 
example  be  thus  potent,  how  important  does  it 
become  that  the  model  be  of  an  exalted  kind — one  in 
which  the  higher  and  the  holier  aspirations  that 
should  govern  mortals  would  appear — one  in  which 
would  not  exist  that  vain,  pitiful,  miserable  longing 
for  the  breath  of  popular  applause,  as  evanescent  as 
that  upon  the  dimmed  surface  of  a  polished  mirror, 
but  in  which  would  be  found  that  earnest  yearning 


JO  I  rdroduction 

to  accomplish  good  things  for  all  men ;  that  unceasing 
effort  to  benefit  all  mankind,  the  memory  of  which 
will  live  after  them. 

We  may  then  turn  popular  attention  with  much 
benefit  from  the  military  and  political  idols  that  now 
fill  its  eye,  to  the  contemplation  of  man  as  he  ought  to 
be, — to  the  nobleness  of  virtue  which  sanctifies 
knowledge.  Oh!  it  is  a  holy  duty,  while  selfishness 
and  impiety  go  hand  in  hand  through  the  world 
seeming  to  constitute  the  only  essential  qualifications 
to  respectability,  the  only  passports  to  renown,  to 
place  before  it  the  character  of  one  who  laboured  for 
the  good  of  all,  and  earnestly  before  God  and  for 
God ;  one  in  whom  there  was  no  selfishness  nor  guile 
Thus  youth  may  be  able  to  contrast  the  character 
of  the  worldling  with  that  of  the  man  of  God. 

The  first  endeavours,  by  his  example,  to  prove 
that  man  may  live  independently  of  his  Creator; 
the  latter,  while  he  proves  our  absolute  dependence 
on  Him  who  called  us  into  being,  teaches  the  infant 
heart  the  secret  by  which  the  fountains  of  God's 
goodness  may  be  opened.  The  first  teaches  youth 
to  scoff;  the  latter,  to  pray,  under  the  sublime 
conviction  that  the  prayer  offered  up  by  the  child 
at  its  mother's  knee,  is  the  same  prayer  that  is 
uttered  by  the  myriads  of  the  angels  around  the 
throne  of  the  Eternal: — the  same  prayer  taught 
here  below  that  it  will  repeat  when,  having  "shaken 
off  this  mortal  coil,"  it  will  return  to  the  household 
of  its  Father  who  is  in  Heaven. 


fife  of  tlic 
3Ri0l]t  JReitercnit  Hilliam  (fDuartcr,  p.  p. 


CHAPTER  I. 


FROM  HIS  BIRTH  UNTIL  HIS  DEPARTURE  FOR  AMERICA. 

1806—1822 

Rt.  Rev.  William  Quarter,  first  Bishop  of 
Chicago,  in  the  state  of  Illinois,  was  born  inKillurine. 
Kings  County,  Ireland,  on  the  21st  day  of  January, 
in  the  year  1806.  He  was  the  third  son  of  Michael 
Quarter  and  Ann  Bennet.  There  were  four  brothers : 
John,  the  eldest;  Walter  Joseph,  the  vicar  general 
of  the  Bishop  and  present  administrator  of  the 
diocese;  William,  the  subject  of  this  memoir;  and 
James,  who  died  before  he  arrived  at  the  age  neces- 
sary to  receive  ordination.  It  was  his  intention  to 
have  entered  the  holy  order  of  the  priesthood. 

The  family  of  the  Quarters  was  of  the  most 
respectable;  and  rarely  is  one  found  that  has  given 
more  priests  and  bishops  to  the  Church  than  the 
maternal  branch  of  it  has  done.  'The  number  of 
clergymen  here  and  in  the  diocese  of  Meath  that  are 
connected  with  it,  is  at  the  present  time  little  short 
of  twenty;  and  they  have  to  display  an  unsullied 
name,  while  there  have  never  been  any  men  in  the 
ministry  more  firm  in  upholding  the  rights  of  the 
priesthood." 

Mrs.  Quarter,  the  Bishop's  mother,  looking  upon 
the  pledges  that  God  had  given  as  merely  entrusted 


12  Life  of  The 

to  her  guardianship  upon  earth,  and  to  be  required 
from  her  hereafter,  devoted  herself  to  their  early 
training  in  the  path  in  which  they  should  walk,  so 
that  "in  age  they  might  not  depart  from  it."  As 
soon  as  they  could  enunciate  properly,  they  were 
taught  their  morning  and  evening  prayers ;  and  that 
good  custom  of  gathering  the  little  flock  to  the 
morning  and  evening  devotions  was  never  omitted 
in  her  house ;  nor  did  the  family  ever  retire  at  night 
without  having  first  said  the  Rosary  of  the  Blessed 
Virgin  Mary.  From  this  practice  sprung  that 
devotion  to  the  Mother  of  God,  which  so  remarkably 
distinguished  the  Bishop  through  life. 

The  example  thus  set  him  by  his  mother;  her 
earnest  efforts  to  instil  into  his  young  heart  the  love 
of  virtue  and  the  horror  of  sin,  made  a  deep  impres- 
sion upon  his  pliant  mind.  In  after  life  he  would 
often  say,  "I  never  saw  but  one,  and  that  one  was 
Bishop  Brute,  who  exhibited  so  tender  a  piety  as  my 
mother;"  and  the  recollections  of  the  scenes  of  his 
childhood's  years  when  he  knelt  beside  that  mother's 
knee,  while  she  placed  her  hand  upon  his  little  head, 
and  taught  him  to  lisp  his  prayers,  could  never  be 
blotted  from  his  memory.  How  often  did  he  thank 
God  for  having  given  him  such  a  mother!  and  he 
seemed  never  to  weary  of  repeating  the  instances  of 
her  kindness,  her  goodness,  and  her  watchfulness. 
Frequently,  he  said,  "I  owe  all  that  I  am  to  her;  I 
would  never  have  been  a  Priest,  I  would  never  have 
been  a  Bishop,  but  for  her;"  a  tear  would  gather  in 
his  bright  eye,  and  steal  over  his  care-worn  cheek, 


Rt.  Rev.  Wm.  Quarter  /j 

while  he  breathed  a  prayer  to  God  that  he  might 
meet  his  mother  again  in  his  father's  house,  after  he 
had  accomplished  his  earthly  pilgrimage. 

The  virtuous  example,  the  pious  life  and  the 
tender  love  of  such  a  mother,  could  not  but  make  a 
deep  impression  upon  the  hearts  of  her  children. 
She  ruled  them  by  love,  and  they  were  bound  to  her 
by  the  ties  of  love.  As  the  gentle  breath  of  the 
zephyr,  dancing  upon  the  smooth  surface  of  a  lake, 
causes  neither  ripple  nor  wave  to  disturb  that 
surface,  nor  raises  up  sediment  from  the  bottom  of 
the  deep,  so  did  the  even  tenor  of  these  children's 
lives,  leave  undisturbed  beneath  the  surface,  the 
passions  that  for  the  most  part  disfigure  the  face  of 
childhood.  It  gave  them  early  a  mastery  over 
themselves,  which  was  a  marked  characteristic  in 
the  life  of  the  Bishop. 

His  mother  was  anxious  that  God  might  call 
some  one  of  her  children  to  the  holy  order  of  the 
Priesthood,  and  the  manner  of  her  early  training 
was  directed  to  favour  in  them  a  desire  similar  to 
her  own.  She  had  taught  her  son  William,  at  the 
age  of  seven  years,  to  serve  mass,  and  he  never  felt 
so  happy  as  when  he  had  served  at  that  holy  sacrifice, 
for  the  priest  who  officiated  in  his  father's  house. 
She  would  tell  him,  when  he  had  been  thus  engaged : 
"My  son,  it  does  my  heart  good  to  see  you  serving  at 
the  altar.  I  consider  your  place  there  more  honour- 
able than  if  you  occupied  the  first  station  in  a 
kingdom:  now  you  are  truly  in  the  service  of  your 
God." 


j^  Life  of  The 

William  Quarter  early  corresponded  with  her 
wishes,  and  he  seemed  to  have  set  his  heart  upon  a 
religious  life:  for  in  his  very  childhood,  and  while 
his  playmates  were  building  their  mud  houses,  or 
their  little  sand  embankments  to  stop  a  water-course, 
or  playing  bo-peep,  or  engaged  in  other  diversions 
peculiar  to  their  years,  he  would  steal  away  from 
them,  that  he  might  be  alone,  and  then  he  would 
build  his  little  altar  and  ornament  it,  offering  up  to 
God  upon  it  the  sacrifice  of  his  young  and  spotless 
heart.  And  the  sacrifice  was  accepted;  for  what  on 
earth  is  purer,  what  more  worthy  of  the  Creator  of 
all  things,  than  the  pure  heart  ere  the  stain  of  sin 
has  disfigured  it. 

Mrs.  Quarter  had  received  an  excellent  education 
in  the  school  of  a  religious  community,  and  she 
therefore  assumed  the  task  of  instructing  her  son,  of 
opening  and  expanding  the  first  flowers  of  his 
intellect.  She  was  well  aware  that  the  common 
schools  of  education  were  to  the  morals  like  a 
Siberian  desert  to  the  tender  plant  reared  under  a 
warmer  clime.  She  determined  therefore  to  have 
the  entire  management  of  his  early  years;  and  his 
after  life  is  evidence  of  her  capability  and  of  the 
manner  in  which  she  discharged  her  duty. 

He  devoted  himself  assiduously  to  his  studies, 
and  he  mastered  every  branch  and  overcame  every 
difficulty  with  which  he  grappled,  in  a  way  that 
showed  him  to  be  possessed  of  a  very  high  order  of 
intellect.     So  rapid  was  his  progress,  that  at  the  age 


Rt.  Rev.  Wm.  Quarter  /5 

of  eight  years  he  was  fitted  to  enter  a  boarding  school 
at  Tullamore. 

Previous  to  entrusting  him  to  the  care  of 
strangers,  his  mother  exerted  herself  to  fortify  his 
piety  by  preparing  him  for  his  first  communion. 
He  presented  himself  at  that  holy  table  where  he 
was  to  receive  his  Redeemer  into  his  young  heart, 
with  a  piety  so  remarkable  as  to  produce  an  effect 
which  they  have  never  forgotten,  upon  the  older 
friends  who  witnessed  his  reception  of  the  sacrament. 

Influenced  then  by  his  happiness,  by  the  love 
that  burned  in  his  soul,  and  in  correspondence  with 
the  graces  vouchsafed  to  him,  he  expressed  his 
determination  to  live  henceforth  for  God  alone,  to 
enter  the  holy  order  of  the  priesthood,  and  he  laid 
his  talents  with  a  self-denying  humility  at  the  foot 
of  the  cross,  to  be  consecrated  to  Christ. 

Immediately  after  having  made  his  first  com- 
munion, he  left  home  for  Tullamore,  where  he  entered 
the  Academy  of  Rev.  Mr.  Deran,  a  retired  Presby- 
terian clergyman,  and  one  of  the  best  classical 
scholars  in  Ireland.  Here  he  commenced  his  classical 
and  mathematical  studies.  After  remaining  about 
two  years  with  Mr.  Deran,  he  entered  the  Academy 
of  John  and  Thomas  Fitzgerald,  kept  in  the  same 
town.  In  this  school  he  completed  his  course  of 
study  preparatory  to  entering  the  College  of 
Maynooth.  With  this  purpose,  in  his  sixteenth 
year,  he  stood  and  passed  in  a  most  satisfactory 
manner  his  public  examination.  But  Providence 
had  marked  out  for  him  another  destiny. 


1 6  Life  of  The 

During  the  years  that  he  thus  spent  preparing 
himself  for  his  collegiate  course,  he  was  distinguished 
for  the  same  tender  and  exemplary  piety  that  char- 
acterized him  when  under  the  watchful  care  of  his 
good  mother ;  and  so  remarkable  was  his  demeanour, 
that  his  companions  styled  him  the  ^little  Bishop.'' 
Little  thought  they  that  the  day  would  come  when 
the  title  of  his  boyhood  would  be  the  distinction  of 
his  manhood.  The  qualities  of  his  heart  so  endeared 
him  to  all  his  schoolmates,  that  his  power  of  doing 
good  among  them  was  almost  unbounded,  and  he 
used  it  to  the  utmost,  exhorting  to  virtue  and 
reproving  vice.  His  charity,  even  thus  early  in  life, 
was  ever  in  search  of  objects,  and  whenever  his 
parents  furnished  him  with  pocket  money,  it  was  not 
hoarded  up,  nor  spent  in  youthful  indulgences,  but 
distributed  to  the  last  farthing  among  the  suffering 
and  the  needy  poor.  He  realized  often  how  sweet 
it  is  to  give  alms  for  God's  sake. 

About  the  time  that  his  preparations  to  enter 
the  college  of  Maynooth  were  completed,  the  Rev, 
Mr.  McAuley,  brother  of  Count  McAuley,  of 
Frankford,  Kings  Co.,  returned  to  Ireland  from  the 
United  States.  This  gentleman  spent  much  of  his 
time  at  the  house  of  the  father  of  young  Quarter; 
and  often,  as  he  spoke  of  the  condition  of  the  Catholic 
missions  in  America; — of  the  thousands  of  Catholic 
children,  that  were  growing  up  far  away  from  the 
teachers  of  their  holy  faith,  and  in  a  land  where 
Mammon  was  the  worshipped  deity — of  the  wander- 
ing away  from  the  one  sheepfold  of  so  many  that 


Rt.  Rev.  Wm.  Quarter  17 

were  sealed  at  the  baptismal  font  as  members  of  the 
one  holy  Church,  and  who  were  thus  lost  for  want  of 
instructors  and  example — of  the  extent  of  the  harvest 
and  the  scarcity  of  the  gleaners;  as  he  spoke  of  all 
these,  the  young  aspirant  to  the  ministry  would 
listen  to  him  till  the  tears  trembled  on  his  eyelids, 
and  with  the  hope  that  God  would  call  him  to  so 
important  a  field.     And  to  it,  he  did  call  him. 

So  great  became  his  desire  to  forsake  all  things 
for  Christ,  that  the  abandonment  of  home  and 
friends,  even  of  his  dearly-loved  mother,  of  the 
shamrock-covered  hills  and  green  fields  of  his  native 
island,  and  the  thousand  memories  that  so  strongly 
influence  the  heart  of  youth,  ere  the  stern  realities  of 
life  have  petrified  it,  seemed  as  nothing  to  him,  in 
comparison  with  the  happiness  of  having  saved  one 
soul  from  eternal  perdition.  Influenced  by  the  zeal 
that  burned  in  his  bosom,  he  went  to  the  Rt.  Rev. 
Dr.  Doyle,  his  Bishop,  and  requested  his  exeat  that 
he  might  go  whither  the  voice  of  his  Father  in  heaven 
called  him;  and  he  did  this,  even  before  he  had 
communicated  to  his  parents  his  purpose.  The 
good  Bishop  Doyle  was  sorry  to  part  with  one  whom 
he  looked  upon  as  peculiarly  his  own,  and  likely  soon 
to  be  a  very  valuable  labourer  in  his  vineyard;  an 
ornament  to  his  diocese;  still  he  could  not  but  admire 
the  courage  of  the  youth  and  his  truly  christian 
spirit,  and  he  gave  him  his  exeat  and  his  blessing. 

What  were  the  feelings  of  the  family  of  the 
young  Quarter,  when  he  announced  to  them  that 
he  was  about  to  start  immediately  for  America,  is 


iS  LiU  of  The 

more  easily   imagined   than  described.     And   it  is 
only  he  who  has  knelt  to  his  parents  and  received 
their  parting  blessing,  ere  he  has  bidden  adieu  to 
the  land  of  his  birth,  about  to  go  forth  into  the  land 
of  the  stranger  for  a  home  and  a  grave,  that  can 
tell  what  must  have  been  the  thoughts  of  the  young 
exile.     Still  the  remonstrances  of  friends  and  rela- 
tives, and  the  strong  ties  of  filial  affection,  knocking 
at  the  chambers  of  his  heart,  received  no  response: 
he  had  formed  his  resolution.     His  parents  felt  that 
they  had  no  right  to  stand  between  him  and  the 
service  of  his  divine  Master;  and  when  he  knelt  by 
his  mother's  knee,  where  he  had  first  learned  to  lisp 
his  infant  prayers,  to  receive  her  parting  blessing, 
she  kissed  his  fair  young  brow,  as  she  said  to  him: 
"My  son,  I  have  given  you  to  God;  go  withersoever 
He   calls   you,    and   may   his   and   your   mother's 
benediction    ever    attend    you!" — Oh!    how   often, 
amid  the  checkered  scenes  of  his  life,  did  the  remem- 
brance of  his  mother's  voice  and  blessing,  as  she 
bade  him  go;  of  her  kindness  and  her  care;  rise 
before  and  hover  around  him,   even  as  guardian 
angels,  to  shield  and  to  comfort  him  in  the  hours  of 
trial  and  of  tribulation ! 


Rt.  Rev.  Wm.  Quarter  ig 


CHAPTER  II. 

FROM  HIS  DEPARTURE  FOR  AMERICA  UNTIL  HIS  APPOINTMENT  AS 
PASTOR  OF  ST.  MARY's  CHURCH  IN  NEW-YORK,   1 822 — I  83  3 

On  the  loth  day  of  April,  1822,  in  the  sixteenth 
year  of  his  age,  William  Quarter  left  his  native  land 
for  North  America.  It  is  a  singular  coincidence, 
that,  on  the  very  same  day  of  the  same  month, 
twenty-six  years  later,  the  period  of  his  earthly  exile 
terminated. 

The  vessel  in  which  he  sailed  landed  at  Quebec. 
He  presented  himself  to  the  Bishop  of  that  city, 
and  asked  to  be  received  as  an  ecclesiastical  student: 
but  his  youth  was  urged  as  an  objection,  and  this 
objection  he  could  not  remove.  He  applied  next  to 
the  Bishop  of  Montreal,  where  the  same  objection  as 
to  his  youth  was  urged  against  him.  He  then  went 
to  Mt.  St.  Mary's  College,  Emmetsburg,  Md., 
where  he  applied  to  Rev.  Mr.  Dubois,  the  President 
of  the  College,  afterwards  the  Bishop  of  New- York. 
Here  the  reason  that  had  caused  his  rejection  in 
Canada,  operated  in  his  favour,  and  with  Rev.  Mr. 
Dubois  his  youth  was  his  first  and  best  recom- 
mendation. That  good  clergyman,  an  exile  himself, 
received  young  Quarter  even  as  a  father  would  a  son ; 
and  ever  afterwards  through  life  there  existed 
between  them  the  reciprocal  tenderness  and  regard 
of  a  father  for  a  son  and  of  a  son  for  a  father. 

Rev.  Mr.  Dubois  examined  his  young  pupil  in 
the  studies  which  he  had  been  pursuing,  and  finding 


20  Life  of  The 

that  he  was  master  of  them,  placed  him  at  once  in 
the  Seminary,  which  he  entered  on  the  8th  day  of 
September.  He  chose  this  day  as  the  one  on  which 
to  commence  his  preparation  for  the  ecclesiastical 
state,  because  it  was  a  festival  of  her  whom  in  his 
childhood  he  had  chosen  as  his  patroness. 

So  thorough  had  been  his  course  of  mathematical 
and  classical  studies,  and  so  completely  was  he 
master  of  these  branches,  that  he  was  at  once  placed 
in  charge  of  the  classes  of  Greek  and  Latin  and 
Algebra;  and  in  the  second  year  of  his  residence  at 
Mt.  St.  Mary's,  he  was  appointed  Professor  of  the 
Greek  and  Latin  languages. 

As  a  proof  of  his  piety,  of  his  humility,  and  of  his 
veneration  for  the  mysteries  of  his  holy  faith  at  this 
period  of  his  life,  it  may  not  be  improper  to  mention, 
that  when  appointed  sacristan,  one  year  after  having 
entered  the  seminary,  he  prepared  himself  for  his 
duties  by  approaching  the  holy  sacraments  of 
penance  and  the  Eucharist,  and  he  went  on  his  bare 
knees  from  the  door  of  the  church  to  the  sanctuary, 
so  unworthy  did  he  consider  himself.  It  was  with 
fear  and  trembling  that  he  placed  his  hand  upon  the 
chalice  which  contained  the  consecrated  blood  of 
Jesus  Christ.  Familiarity  in  his  long  ministry  did 
not  diminish  one  iota  of  this  his  early  respect  and 
veneration ;  and  often  has  he  warned  those  whom  it 
was  his  happiness  to  have  exalted  to  the  holy 
ministry  of  the  altar,  that  they  should  beware  and 
keep  over  themselves  a  constant  watch,  lest  famil- 
iarity might  cause  them  to  forget  for  one  moment  a 


Rt.  Rev.  Wm.  Quarter  21 

particle  of  that  respect  due  by  them  to  the  Holy 
Sacrament. 

The  Sainted  Brute,  by  whom  he  was  tenderly 
beloved,  was  his  Professor  of  Philosophy  and 
Divinity.  Mr.  Quarter  was  a  pupil  worthy  his 
distinguished  master ;  and  the  letters  of  that  master, 
from  which  I  might  quote  were  I  not  anxious  that 
this  memoir  should  be  as  brief  as  possible,  show  how 
high  an  estimate  was  placed  upon  his  character,  his 
talents  and  his  virtues,  by  a  man  who  knew  well 
every  avenue  to  the  human  heart,  and  who  could 
thread  its  mazes  with  consummate  skill.  Even 
after  Mr.  Quarter  had  been  transplanted  to  another 
field,  the  watchful  care,  the  consoling  accents  of 
encouragement,  and  the  sincere  expressions  of  com- 
mendation, were  bestowed  by  this  good  old  man  upon 
his  absent  pupil,  and  were  never  forgotten  by  him 
who  was  the  object  of  such  solicitude. 

"Among  all  the  professors  and  students  he  was 
highly  esteemed  for  his  clear  mind,  sound  judgment, 
gentle  disposition,  firm  friendship  and  perfect 
devotion;"  and  he  loved  these  with  an  affection  so 
pure  that  amid  all  the  changing  scenes  of  his  life, 
too  apt  generally  to  engender  forgetfulness,  he 
ceased  not  to  remember  them  each  and  every  one; 
and  how  his  bright  eye  would  sparkle  and  his 
spirits  become  elated,  when  he  met  with  any  child  of 
that  dear  old  mountain,  with  whom  he  could  converse 
of  the  days  that  were  past,  and  of  the  men  who  had 
been  called  to  other  scenes  on  earth,  or  away  to  a 
better  world ;  or  with  one  who  could  tell  him  of  the 


22  Life  of  The 

progress  and  prosperity  of  that  favourite  institution, 
and  the  tear  would  start  unbidden  to  his  eye,  when 
the  new  names  that  now  filled  the  places  of  those  he 
loved  so  tenderly,  were  repeated,  calling  up  to  his 
mind  the  truthfulness  of  the  observation,  that  we 
are  but  sojourners  on  this  earth,  where  all  is  change. 
Often  have  I  been  seated  with  him  for  hours, 
forgetting  all  else,  while  we  spoke  of  the  men  and 
things  there — of  the  little  church  away  up  upon  the 
mountain-side — of  the  beautiful  valley  that  stretched 
out  in  front  of  it  from  the  base  of  the  Blue-ridge  and 
extended  away  as  far  as  the  eye  could  reach — of  the 
graveyard  and  the  friends  of  his  that  lay  mouldering 
there — of  the  cottage,  and  the  garden,  and  the 
grotto,  and  the  ravine,  bridged  over  by  "Plunket's 
folly" — of  the  crystal  fountain  bubbling  up  at  the 
mountain's  base,  pure,  sparkling,  and  bright,  and 
distributing  its  liquid  treasures — of  the  old  wooden 
college  that  has  been  long  since  removed  and 
replaced  by  the  tall  stone  one,  with  its  majectic 
steeple,  with  its  cross  above  the  clouds;  its  terraces 
and  its  trees,  fringing  their  borders — of  the  hunting 
grounds,  and  the  rabbit  dens  and  their  trappers; — 
of  the  little  gardens  of  each  student's  industry, 
nestled  like  birds'  nests  amid  the  tall  tress  upon  the 
mountain-side — of  these  and  a  thousand  other  topics 
that  may  be  readily  imagined  by  any  one  who  has 
spent  his  college-years  at  Mt.  St.  Mary's.  In  this 
regard  for  the  memories  of  those  years,  we  behold 
how  unchangeable  were  his  affections.  Once  your 
friend,  he  was  "a  friend  indeed." 


Rt.  Rev.  Wm.  Quarter  2j 

On  the  2Qth  day  of  October,  in  the  year  1826, 
the  Rt.  Rev.  Dr.  Dubois  was  consecrated  Bishop  of 
New- York.  At  his  departure  from  the  institution 
which  he  had  founded,  he  took  with  him  the  exeat 
and  other  papers  committed  to  his  keeping  by  Mr. 
Quarter  when  he  was  received  into  the  Seminary. 
It  was  the  intention  of  Bishop  Dubois  to  call  him  to 
his  own  diocese  as  soon  as  the  termination  of  his 
course  of  theological  studies  had  been  reached.  He 
did  call  him;  and  though  the  then  Archbishop  of 
Baltimore  exerted  himself  to  detain  him,  and  though 
the  faculty  of  the  College  made  him  splendid  offers 
in  order  to  prevent  his  departure,  and  to  secure  the 
continuance  of  his  services  to  that  institution,  he 
felt  himself  bound  by  the  ties  of  a  stronger  gratitude 
to  his  first  friend,  and  he  cheerfully  resigned  the 
honours  that  awaited  his  college-life  for  the  labours 
and  privations  of  a  mission  under  his  benefactor. 

On  the  14th  of  September,  iSiq,  he  left  the 
lovely  retirement  of  his  mountain-home,  where  he 
had  spent  so  many  happy  days,  for  the  noise  and 
bustle  of  the  great  city  of  New- York,  which  was  to 
be  the  theatre  qf  his  ministerial  labours.  "He 
reached  New- York  on  Wednesday  evening,  the  i6th 
of  the  same  month,  and  on  Thursday  morning, 
the  1 7th,  he  received  at  the  hands  of  Bishop  Dubois 
the  Clerical  Tonsure,  Minor  Orders,  and  Sub- 
deaconship;  on  Friday  morning,  the  i8th.  Deacon- 
ship  ;  and  on  Saturday  morning  he  was  raised  to  the 
dignity  of  the  Priesthood."     Being  under  23  years  of 


24  ^^f^  of  ^^^ 

age    when   he    was   ordained,    the    sacrament    was 
therefore  conferred  on  him  by  dispensation. 

On  the  day  after  this  ordination,  Bishop  Dubois 
started  for  Europe,  leaving  the  charge  of  his  diocese 
to  the  very  Rev.  Dr.  Power,  then  Pastor  of  St. 
Peter's.  As  administrator,  Dr.  Power  took  up  his 
residence  in  the  Bishop's  house,  placing  the  Rev.  Jas. 
Smith  in  the  pastoral  charge  of  his  own  church. 
The  Rev.  William  Quarter  was  appointed  the 
assistant  pastor  of  St.  Peter's,  receiving  his  clerical 
jurisdiction  from  the  Very  Rev.  Dr.  Power. 

In  the  year  1831  he  determined  to  pay  a  visit 
to  his  Alma  Mater,  Mt.  St.  Mary's.  Rev.  Mr. 
Smith,  being  anxious  that  the  female  portion  of  the 
children  of  his  congregation  should  be  entrusted  to 
the  care  of  the  Sisters  of  Charity,  Rev.  Mr.  Quarter 
determined,  on  his  arrival  at  Emmetsburg,  to 
propose  to  the  Mother  Superioress  at  St.  Joseph's,  to 
send  on  to  New  York  three  sisters  of  the  order  who 
would  take  charge  of  the  female  free-school  attached 
to  St.  Peter's  Church.  The  proposition  was  favour- 
ably received,  and  in  the  month  of  June  of  the  same 
year,  the  three  sisters  asked,  took  charge  of  the 
schools.  Sister  Lucy  Ignatius  was  the  first  sister 
servant. 

The  house  first  occupied  by  these  ladies  was  a 
miserably  dilapidated  frame  building,  directly  oppo- 
site to  the  church,  and  on  the  very  spot  probably 
where  the  splendid  mansion  recently  erected  for  the 
present  Rev.  Clergy  now  stands.  After  the  lapse  of 
a  year,  they  were  transferred  from  that  shattered 


Rt.  Rev.  Wm.  Quarter  25 

building  to  another  not  much  better,  which  was  on 
the  same  side  with  the  church  itself,  and  which  was 
the  house  occupied  previously  by  the  clergymen  of 
the  church.  Here  they  lived,  pursuing  their  mission 
of  love  and  mercy,  until  necessity  compelled  them 
to  remove  their  frame  building  and  erect  another  in 
its  stead.  After  years  of  privation,  they  at  last 
succeeded  in  building  their  present  splendid  and 
spacious  house  on  the  ground  that  was  sanctified  by 
their  early  labours  and  sufferings. 

On  Wednesday  the  qth  day  of  November,  in 
this  year,  the  church  of  St.  Mary  in  Sheriff-street 
was  burned  to  the  ground.  The  loss  was  a  heavy 
one,  "but  steps  were  immediately  taken,  (under  the 
direction  of  Rev.  Luke  Berry,  the  pastor  of  old  St. 
Mary's,)  by  some  active  members  of  the  congrega- 
tion, to  secure  a  handsome  site  for  a  new  church." 
The  lots  selected  and  purchased  are  those  on  the 
corner  of  Grand  and  Ridge  streets,  upon  which  the 
present  church  of  St.  Mary's  stands. 

The  congregation  had  many,  (and  to  a  less 
devoted  and  enterprising  people)  almost  insur- 
mountable difficulties  to  overcome,  before  they 
could  again  assemble  under  the  roof  of  a  church  they 
might  call  their  own.  In  one  month  and  five  days 
(Dec.  14th)  after  the  conflagration  of  St.  Mary's, 
and  before  they  had  recovered  from  that  shock,  a 
new  calamity  befel  the  congregation  in  the  death  of 
their  beloved  pastor.  Thus  the  church  and  the 
pastor,  in  the  space  of  a  few  short  weeks,  existed 
only  in  remembrance.     Still,  though  the  shepherd 


2.6  L  ife  of  The 

was  smitten,  the  sheep  were  not  scattered.  They 
laboured  earnestly  in  the  erection  of  their  new 
church,  and  successfully,  until  that  terrible  scourge, 
the  cholera,  broke  out  amongst  them ;  entering  their 
habitations,  their  storehouses  and  their  workshops — 
striking  them  down  in  the  thronged  marts  of  business 
or  upon  the  highway — passing  onward  with  its  car  of 
destruction,  and  crushing  beneath  its  wheels  the  rich 
and  the  poor,  the  just  and  the  unjust — desolating 
cities,  and  making  charnel-houses  of  the  populous 
habitations  of  men.  The  building  advanced  slowly 
during  these  days  of  affliction,  of  wo,  of  misery,  and 
of  death :  for  as  the  city  was  comparatively  desolated, 
no  means  could  be  collected.  At  length,  however,  a 
brighter  day  dawned:  the  dark  cloud  that  hovered 
so  long  over  the  devoted  city  was  dispelled,  and  the 
energies  of  the  congregation  were  again  aroused  to 
complete  the  work. 

During  this  period  of  time  when  the  cholera  was 
in  New-York,  Rev.  Wm.  Quarter  was  still  assistant 
pastor  at  St.  Peter's,  and  here  it  was  that  the 
generous  self-devotion  of  this  truly  christian  mission- 
ary shone  conspicuous,  and  left  for  him  a  name  and 
a  fame  that  will  not  be  forgotten  in  that  city  while 
the  visitation  of  the  cholera  is  remembered.  From 
the  time  of  its  commencement  until  its  termination 
he  was  always  at  his  post.  Day  and  night  he  labour- 
ed constantly  and  unceasingly,  well  satisfied  if  he 
could  snatch  but  three  hours'  repose  from  the  twenty- 
four.  If  you  sought  for  him,  you  would  find  him 
now  in  the  humble  habitation  of  poverty,  again  in 


Rt.  Rev.  Wm.  Quarter  27 

the  mansions  of  wealth — every  place  where  duty  called 
him.  Yes,  there  he  was,  amid  pestilence  and  death, 
holding  the  cup  of  refreshment  to  the  parched  lips 
of  the  sufferer,  when  the  nearest  and  the  dearest  had 
forsaken  him;  "wiping  away  the  clammy  sweat  from 
his  sunken  brow,  fixing  the  dimmed  eye  on  the  sign 
of  salvation,  and  turning  its  expiring  glance  to 
heaven;"  or  fortifying  the  departing  spirit  for  its 
gloomy  passage  through  the  gates  of  death,  with  the 
last  sacraments  of  that  Church,  whose  faith  fortified 
his  heart  and  strengthened  him,  encouraging  him 
onward  in  the  path  of  his  hard  duty,  inspiring  him 
with  a  bravery  far  greater  than  was  ever  exhibited 
by  warrior  on  any  battle-field.  Truly  has  it  been 
said,  that  the  enthusiasm  of  genius  has  made  poets 
and  orators;  the  enthusiasm  of  glory,  conquerors; 
but  the  enthusiasm  of  charity  inspires  the  humble 
ministers  of  the  faith  taught  to  the  fishermen — of 
charity,  which  is  their  morning  and  evening  sacrifice, 
which  is  the  labour  and  happiness  of  their  entire  lives. 
Besides  devoting  himself  to  the  victims  of  disease, 
he  gathered  together  the  children  of  the  dead  mem- 
bers of  his  flock  to  the  number  of  about  sixty,  and 
placing  them  under  the  charge  of  the  Sisters  of 
Charity,  freely  gave  all  the  means  he  possessed  for 
their  support.  O !  how  many  blessings  would  not  the 
pure  prayers  of  these  little  innocents,  rescued  from 
starvation  and  death,  or  from  a  fate  worse  than  death, 
which  might  have  overtaken  them  had  they  been  cast 
out  upon  a  wicked  world ;  how  many  blessings  would 
not  the  prayers  of  these,  I  say,  call  down  upon  the 


28  Life  of  The 

head  of  him  who  was  indeed  their  benefactor!  He 
obtained  for  his  purpose  a  house  from  Cornelius 
Heaney,  Esq.,  to  whom  the  orphans  of  New- York 
owe  very  much,  and  who  afterwards  gave  the  same 
house  to  the  Sisters  of  Charity,  for  the  benefit  of  the 
fatherless.  Here,  guarded  by  a  watchful  care,  they 
were  fed  and  clothed  until  the  time  when  they  could 
safely  take  their  places  in  the  busy  world. 

Rev.  Mr.  Quarter  resided,  during  this  period  of 
his  missionary  career,  in  the  house  of  Mr.  Snowden, 
the  publisher  of  the  Courier  and  Enquirer.  The 
great  attention  of  this  young  ecclesiastic  to  the 
people  of  his  flock,  the  heroic  self-devotion,  and  the 
sacrifices  he  underwent  during  those  days  "that  tried 
men's  souls,"  produced  so  great  an  impression  upon 
the  minds  of  the  lady  and  family  of  this  gentleman, 
that  she  with  her  three  daughters  and  two  sons 
embraced  the  faith  that  taught  such  heroism  for 
God's  sake.  Often,  during  the  period  of  that 
fearful  visitation,  did  she  herself  sit  and  watch  while 
the  worn-out  priest  was  resting  his  exhausted  frame, 
so  that  she  might  give  him  notice  of  the  calls  upon 
him. 


Rt.  Rev.  Wm.  Quarter  29 


CHAPTER  III. 

HIS  MISSIONARY  LABOURS  AT  ST.  MARY's  IN  NEW  YORK, 

1833 — 1844 

The  storm  that  had  paralyzed  the  energies  of  the 
congregation  of  St.  Mary's  had  passed  by,  and  their 
church  was  completed.  It  was  dedicated  on  the  qth 
of  June,  in  the  year  1 833,  by  the  Rt.  Rev.  Dr.  Dubois. 
At  the  close  of  the  service,  the  Bishop  announced  to 
the  people  that  Rev.  Wm.  Quarter  was  appointed  by 
him  Pastor  of  the  new  church  of  Saint  Mary's. 

He  continued  the  pastor  of  this  church  until  his 
consecration  for  the  See  of  Chicago.  Mr.  Quarter 
entered  at  once  upon  his  duties  with  all  the  ardour  of 
his  nature,  and  with  a  view  of  labour  frevently  and 
sincerely  for  the  good  of  the  flock  committed  to  his 
care;  so  that  when  called  to  give  an  account  of  his 
stewardship,  his  Master  might  be  satisfied  with  him. 
He  set  himself  at  once  to  work,  in  order  to  remedy 
the  evils  that  existed  among  the  people  of  his  new 
charge.  The  youths  of  the  congregation  were 
scattered,  and  he  observed  with  grief  and  affliction 
that  they  could  not  be  collected  for  the  purpose  of 
receiving  religious  instructions  on  Sundays. 

"He  had  already  the  experience  of  the  salutary 
influence  exercised  over  the  female  youth  of  the 
congregation  of  St.  Peter's  Church  by  the  Sisters  of 
Charity,  and  he  was  resolved,  if  possible,  to  obtain 
them  at  St.  Mary's.     The  church  was  as  yet,  how- 


JO  Life  of  The 

ever,  struggling  and  much  embarassed,  and  he  knew 
not  how  he  could  obtain  his  object."  On  consulta- 
tion with  the  trustees,  though  they  did  not  oppose 
him,  yet  they  advised  him  to  lay  aside  his  purpose 
until  some  future  day,  since  the  expenses  thus  neces- 
sarily to  be  added  would  be  beyond  their  means. 

Bishop  Bubois,  whom  he  consulted  respecting  the 
introduction  of  the  Sisters,  advised  the  same  course, 
owing  to  the  observations  of  the  trustees  with  respect 
to  their  straitened  circumstances.  But  when  did 
ordinary  difficulties  or  obstructions  deter  Rev. 
William  Quarter  from  undertaking  and  accomplish- 
ing anything,  if  he  saw  clearly  that  it  was  for  the 
advancement  of  the  holy  cause  to  which  he  had 
consecrated  his  life?  Difficulties  that  would  affright 
ordinary  men  only  stimulated  him  to  more  energetic 
action.  When  any  measure  was  for  the  benefit  of 
religion,  he  fearlessly  undertook  it,  confident  that  God 
would  watch  over  and  favour  the  issue.  In  this 
matter,  the  conviction  that  his  present  purpose  must 
be  accomplished  at  his  own  risk,  did  not  deter  him; 
but  he  with  that  spirit  of  self-sacrifice  which  ever 
characterized  him,  resolved  to  make  the  experiment 
even  at  that  risk.  With  the  consent  of  his  Bishop, 
he  therefore  commenced  on  his  own  responsibility  a 
correspondence  with  the  Mother  Superior  of  the 
Sisters  of  Charity  at  Emmetsburg,  the  result  of 
which  was,  that  on  the  first  of  September,  1833,  three 
of  the  ladies  of  this  community  arrived  in  New- York 
to  take  charge  of  the  free-school  of  St.   Mary's. 


Rt.  Rev.  Wm.  Quarter  jj 

They   were   Sister   Eugene,    Sister   Servant;   Sister 
Mary,  and  Sister  Pelagia. 

On  the  arrival  of  the  Sisters,  a  school  was  im- 
mediately opened.  The  more  respectable  Catholics 
of  this  and  other  portions  of  the  city  encouraged  it 
by  sending  their  daughters.  In  addition  to  the 
small  salary  thus  afforded,  the  Sisters  were  allowed 
to  receive  a  few  scholars,  boarders,  whose  pensions 
would  enable  them  to  defray  current  expenses. 
Many  difficulties  (as  was  anticipated)  presented 
themselves,  and  it  required  all  the  skill  and  manage- 
ment of  Mr.  Quarter  to  be  exerted,  ere  his  under- 
taking ceased  to  be  a  serious  burden  upon  him;  still 
that  burden  was  cheerfully  borne,  until  at  last  his 
perseverance  triumphed. 

He  then  directed  the  Sisters  to  throw  the  school 
under  the  church  open  to  all ;  making  it  free  for  the 
poorest  children  of  his  little  flock,  and  to  establish  a 
select  school  in  their  own  house.  This  plan  suc- 
ceeded admirably.  The  free  schools  were  frequented 
by  a  large  number  of  pupils;  there  came  daily  at  first 
about  one  hundred  pupils,  which  number  was  soon 
increased  to  about  five  hundred.  The  number  of 
the  pupils  in  the  select  school  averaged  from  seventy 
to  eighty,  and  sometimes  it  reached  one  hundred. 
He  had  thus,  in  a  comparatively  brief  space  of  time, 
the  gratification  of  witnessing  success  crown  his 
efforts. 

"What  an  appearance  did  these  schools  now 
present!  How  different  from  what  they  were  a  few 
months  before  the  Sisters  of  Charity  arrived !     Then 


32  Life  of  The 

were  male  and  female  teacher  engaged  in  the  same 
room,  instructing  a  few  squalid  and  dirty-looking 
children,  boys  and  girls  mixing  indiscriminately. 
Now  the  pupils  under  the  charge  of  the  Sisters  pre- 
sented a  different  appearance:  they  were  orderly 
and  decorous  in  their  behavious,  and  they  were  the 
elements  of  the  future  congregation  of  St.  Mary's, 
promising  to  grow  up  in  virtue,  and  being  early 
instructed  in  sound  religious  principles." 

When  the  church  of  St.  Mary's  had  surmounted 
most  of  her  pecuniary  difficulties,  the  trustees  added 
their  efforts  to  those  of  their  zealous  pastor,  in  order 
to  secure  a  residence  of  their  own  for  the  Sisters  of 
Charity.  The  house  which  they  then  occupied 
No.  447  Grand  Street,  was  purchased  for  them. 

Thus  to  the  enterprise  and  perseverance  of  Rev. 
William  Quarter  are  the  congregation  of  St.  Mary's 
indebted  for  the  introduction  among  them  of  the 
humble  daughters  of  Saint  Vincent,  and  for  the 
manifold  and  incalculable  blessings  that  follow  thence 
to  them  and  to  their  children,  and  to  their  children's 
children.  Well  indeed  may  they  consider  him  their 
benefactor.  He  was  the  benefactor  not  of  the 
Catholics  of  St.  Mary's  only,  but  of  the  whole  city — 
of  the  poor  and  the  orphan ;  for  he  was  instrumental 
in  establishing  the  first  colony  of  the  Sisters  of 
Charity  of  St.  Peter's  also. 

The  benefits  resulting  to  the  Catholics  and  to  the 
city,  may  be  estimated  in  some  measure,  when  it  is 
remembered  that  the  child  is  father  of  the  man — that 
men  are  but  children  of  larger  growth ;  and  that  as  we 


Rt.  Rev.  Wm.  Quarter  3j 

would  have  the  character  of  the  man,  so  must  we 
have  the  character  of  the  child.  This  truth,  which 
the  experience  of  ages  confirms — which  is  written  on 
temples  and  palaces,  on  upturned  altars  and  ruined 
shrines — on  all  the  monuments  of  the  earth — in 
letters  of  blood  upon  every  page  of  the  history  of 
man — is  so  familiar,  that  it  ceases  to  command  our 
attention. 

"The  Pastor  of  St.  Mary's  Church,  anxious  for 
the  spiritual  advancement  of  the  congregation  com- 
mitted to  his  charge,  thought  it  advisable,  as  soon  as 
convenient,  to  establish  confraternities  and  pious 
sodalities  of  the  Rosary  and  the  Scapular.  When 
the  members  of  a  congregation  are  attached  to  some 
religious  society  or  confraternity,  they  are  more 
likely  to  attend  to  their  religious  obligations.  They 
find  occupation  in  prayer  on  Sundays  and  festivals, 
and  other  leisure  hours;  whereas  if  they  were  not 
attached  to  such  societies,  much  of  their  time  might 
be  wasted  in  vice  and  dissipation,  in  slander  and 
calumny,  especially  on  those  days  when  their 
worldly  occupations  do  not  claim  their  attention, 
and  when,  forgetting  that  the  greater  part  of  these 
days  should  be  spent  in  the  service  of  God,  they 
seem  to  think  they  can  idle  them  away  or  spend  them 
in  frivolous  amusements  or  in  sin.  The  poor 
especially  experience  much  consolation  in  attaching 
themselves  to  any  pious  sodality  or  confraternity: 
while  the  rich  seldom  attach  themselves  to  these 
associations.  The  least  sacrifice  of  ease  or  of  pleasure 
seems  too  much  for  them,  and  hence  it  is  that  their 


3^  Life  of  The 

souls  grow  cold  in  devotion;  the  sacraments  even 
THAT  the  Church  commands  them  to  approach  at 
least  once  a  year,  they  neglect,  and  they  seem  to 
disregard  the  penalties  due  their  non-compliance. 

What  a  contrast  the  rich  who  do  not,  and  the 
poor  who  do,  attach  themselves  to  these  sodalities, 
present  in  the  church  on  Sunday!  In  the  morning 
early  the  poor  are  devoutly  there  preparing  to  feed 
their  souls  on  the  rich  banquet  of  the  Body  and 
Blood  of  Jesus  Christ.  The  rich  have  not  as  yet 
raised  their  heads  from  off  their  soft  pillows.  At 
the  last  mass,  the  poor  are  there  fasting  up  to  the 
hour  of  midday,  and  then  too  happy  if  they  be  per- 
mitted to  approach  the  table  of  their  Lord.  They 
press  through  the  dense  mass  of  people,  and  prostrate 
themselves  before  the  altar,  their  souls  filled  with 
devotion  and  inflamed  with  divine  love.  The  rich  sit 
in  their  pews  and  look  coldly  and  indifferently  on 
them,  and  appear  like  strangers  in  the  house  of  their 
Lord  and  Master:  they  have  no  regard  for  the 
spiritual  favours  and  heavenly  blessings,  gifts  and 
graces  which  God  would  bestow  on  them,  were  they 
faithful. 

At  vespers,  the  poor  are  again  in  the  house  of 
God.  The  seats  of  the  rich  are  empty.  The  psalm 
of  praise  and  the  canticle  of  joy  is  being  sung;  the 
rich  join  not  in  the  chorus;  the  sacred  melody  has 
no  charm  for  their  ears;  and  they  sit,  if  there  at  all, 
gazing  idly,  or  perhaps  ridiculing  those  simple, 
pious  souls  that  are  engaged  in  the  praises  of  their 
God.     Not  now  even  are  the  poor  tired  of  their 


Rt.  Rev.  Wm.  Quarter  j^ 

devotions.  Again  they  assemble  in  the  evening, 
to  close  the  day  with  prayer,  to  read  pious  books, 
and  to  recite  the  Rosary.  Thus  it  is  that  the 
members  of  the  several  religious  societies  now 
established  at  St.  Mary's,  spend  the  Sunday." 

These  lines,  written  by  Bishop  Quarter  himself, 
when  pastor  of  the  congregation  of  which  he  speaks, 
proves,  that  though  "he  found  the  parish  overrun 
with  vice,"  it  did  not  continue  long  so  under  his 
zealous  and  watchful  care:  but  iit  became,  for  its 
devotion  and  for  its  piety,  an  example  to  the  whole 
city.  They  exhibit  also  to  us  evidences  of  the 
regard  in  which  he  held  the  mother  of  God,  in  the 
efforts  made  to  establish  sodalities  in  her  honour. 
And  that  the  same  tender  regard  for  her  was  enter- 
tained by  him  to  the  end  of  his  life,  is  evidenced  in 
his  last  Pastoral  Letter,  written  but  a  short  time 
before  his  death.  When  speaking  of  the  adoption 
of  "the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary,  conceived  without 
sin,"  as  the  Patroness  of  the  American  Church,  he 
says: 

"We  Catholics  are  not  ashamed  to  honour  the  mother  of 
our  Redeemer,  who  is  also  our  mother ;  we  hesitate  not  to  ask 
her  intercession  and  her  prayers  on  our  behalf  with  her  divine 
Son,  knowing  that  they  will  be  efficacious,  if  the  fault  be  not 
our  own.  Jesus  honoured  the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary  in  choosing 
her  for  his  mother — and  shall  Christians  not  honour  her  like- 
wise ?  She  has  been  selected  by  God  to  give  birth  to  the  Saviour 
and  the  Redeemer — and  shall  we  be  unmindful  of  the  glorious 
prerogative?  The  angel  of  God  prophesied  that  all  generations 
should  call  Mary  blessed — and  shall  it  not  be  our  glory  to 


j6  Life  of  The 

contribute  as  far  as  we  can  to  the  fulfillment  of  this  angelic 
prophecy  ? 

"Our  attachment  to  the  Blessed  Virgin  is  no  ways  destruc- 
tive of,  or  prejudicial  to  our  firm  belief  in  Christ,  but  rather  an 
encouragement  to  it — because  it  is  grounded  on  her  prerogatives, 
which  derive  all  their  lustre  from  Christ,  and  are  only  as  it 
were  a  reflection  of  the  glory  of  the  Son  to  the  mother.  It  is 
in  consequence  of  our  steadfast  belief  in  the  divinity  of  Christ, 
that  we  respect  and  honour  the  Blessed  Virgin,  who  subminis- 
tered  to  him  her  flesh  in  the  accomplishment  of  the  mystery 
of  the  Incarnation  as  Mother  of  God,  and  that  we  suppose  her 
to  have  been  favoured  with  additional  accumulation  of  graces 
to  fit  her  for  the  sublime  station  to  which  she  had  been  elected. 
The  Son  is  therefore  the  fundamental  cause  of  all  her  privileges, 
and  the  immediate  object  of  our  veneration;  and  we  do  not 
pretend  to  honour  the  mother  but  with  reference  to  the  Son, 
and  in  him.  'There  is  no  question,'  says  St.  Jerome,  'but 
whatsoever  praise  is  given  to  the  mother,  it  all  rebounds  to  the 
Son.'  Our  devotion  then  to  the  B.  V.  contributes  to  strengthen 
our  faith  in  Christ — because  upon  the  one  the  other  has  an 
essential  dependence. 

"Let  the  Sodalities  and  Societies,  in  honour  of  the  Blessed 
Virgin  Mary,  Mother  of  God,  already  established  in  many  of 
the  churches  and  congregations  of  this  diocese,  renew  their 
fervour,  and  endeavour  to  increase  their  numbers.  If  they 
are  the  devout  clients  of  Mary,  the  Mother  of  Jesus,  they  will 
be  beloved  by  her  divine  Son.  Who  is  devout  to  Mary,  who 
has  not  a  supreme  love  and  a  supreme  devotion  for  Jesus,  the 
Eternal  World?  Who  despises  the  mother  that  can  still  love 
the  Son?" 

His  whole  missionary  career  in  New  York  was 
marked  by  the  same  zealous  efforts  to  promote  the 
welfare  of  his  people,  and  by  his  unceasing  labours 
in  the  faithful  discharge  of  all  his  duties ;  and  he  was 
always  ready  to  respond  to  any  call,  even  without 


Rt.  Rev.  Wm.  Quarter  37 

the  sphere  of  his  duties,  when  that  call  was  for 
the  promotion  of  the  honour  and  glory  of  God. 

Among  the  most  brilliant  results  of  his  teachings 
in  St.  Mary's,  was  the  conversion  of  the  Rev.  John 
James  Maximilian  Oertel,  a  Lutheran  minister  of 
New  York  city.  This  gentleman  was  the  son  of 
Professor  Oertel,  M.  D.,  of  Ansback,  in  Bavaria. 
He  studied  theology  in  the  University  of  Erlang. 
"After  a  course  of  five  years'  studies  in  this  Uni- 
versity, he  was  examined  for  holy  orders,  and  was 
soon  ordained  a  minister  of  the  Evangelical  Lutheran 
Church.  Being  invited  by  the  Evangelical  Mis- 
sionary Society  of  Barmen,  in  Prussia,  to  preach  the 
Gospel  to  German  protestants  of  the  United  States," 
he  accepted  the  invitation  and  departed  for  New- 
York,  whither  he  arrived  in  the  year  1837. 

To  use  the  words  of  Rev.  Mr.  Oertel  himself: 
"  I  was  a  zealous  preacher  of  the  Lutheran  doctrines; 
for  I  believed  that  the  Lutheran  Church  alone  was 
the  true  Church  of  Christ."  Again  he  says:  "In- 
fluenced by  the  prejudices  of  my  education  at  the 
University,  I  believed  that  the  Lutheran  doctrine 
was  the  same  as  that  taught  by  the  fathers  of  the 
preceding  ages;  I  believed  that  Luther's  doctrine 
was  the  same  as  that  which  Christ  taught  to  his 
apostles,  and  which  they  delivered  to  their  suc- 
cessors. ********j  believed  that  I  had 
learned  the  sound  doctrine,  and  that  I  had  the  true 
belief.  I  believed,  in  a  word,  that  I  was  a  member 
of  the  Holy  Catholic  Church,  and  I  clung  to  the 
thought  with  the  fondness  of  a  child  for  its  mother." 


3<5  Life  of  The 

He  looked  upon  the  holy  fathers  of  the  early  ages 
of  the  Church,  St.  Ambrose,  St.  Chrysostom,  St. 
Augustine,  St.  Bernard,  &c.,  as  the  witnesses  best 
entitled  to  be  believed  with  respect  to  what  were  the 
teachings  and  the  practices  of  the  early  Church,  and 
no  doubt  ever  harassed  his  mind,  that  the  doctrine 
taught  by  these  holy  fathers  was  the  same  as  that 
preached  by  himself. 

What  then  must  have  been  the  disappointment  of 
a  man  who  clung  thus  ardently  to  the  teachings  of 
the  fathers,  to  find  here  in  this  country,  on  his 
arrival,  these  teachings  diregarded; — to  witness  the 
indifference,  the  lukewarmness  and  the  infidelity  of 
those  who  professed  to  be  the  ministers  and  the 
followers  of  the  great  (?)  Reformer! 

Chagrined  and  in  sorrow  at  the  want  of  unity  in 
doctrine  among  the  teachers  of  the  protestant  belief, 
with  whom  he  associated  in  New  York,  he  resolved  to 
visit  Missouri,  where  the  Lutheran  Bishop,  Dr. 
Stephan,  resided.  He  expected  to  find  in  him  a  true 
professor  of  the  belief  taught  to  himself  on  the  other 
side  of  the  Atlantic.  But  he  was  disappointed. 
Bishop  Stephan  believed,  as  he  often  told  him, 
"f/iaf  the  Lutheran  Church  is  extinct,  not  only  in 
Germany,  but  throughout  all  Euro l^e.^'  How  soon  did 
Mr.  Oertel  find  this  so !  How  soon  did  he  realize  the 
truth  of  the  charge,  that  "there  are  not  three  pro- 
fessors of  Theology  in  Germany,  who  consent  to  or 
agree  with  the  old  Lutheran  doctrines  as  laid  down  in 
the  Lutheran  symbolical  books!" 


Rt.  Rev.  Wm.  Quarter  39 

In  this  condition  of  things,  it  was  no  wonder  that 
serious  doubts  began  to  disturb  his  mind,  and  that 
anxiety  succeeded  to  doubt;  that  the  little  bark,  in 
which  his  faith  had  hitherto  quietly  sailed,  began  to 
be  tossed  by  the  tempest,  and  that  he  began  to  direct 
his  mind  to  the  applying  of  those  marks  by  which 
only  the  true  Church  of  Christ  is  to  be  recognized. 

It  would  be  out  of  place  here  to  follow  him 
through  the  arguments  he  advances  in  the  course 
of  his  inquiry :  suffice  it  to  say,  that  in  laying  down 
the  marks  of  the  true  Church; — her  Unity,  her 
Sanctity,  her  Catholicity  and  her  Apostolicity,  as  the 
only  means  whereby  she  could  be  tested,  he  found 
that  his  Lutheran  Church  could  claim  no  inheritance 
of  the  faith  of  the  early  Church,  and  that,  therefore, 
as  these  marks  would  not  apply  to  her,  she  was  not 
the  true  Church. 

Arrived  at  this  point  of  his  inquiry,  he  was  tossed 

like  a  vessel        ••-->.  r  j 

'-oov.i  Q^  ^  gg^  Q^  dreams, 

Her  helm  of  reason  lost;" 

and  for  a  time  he  balanced  between  Christianity  and 
infidelity,  between  hope  and  despair! 

"Oh,  it  would  be  difficult  to  describe,"  says  he, 
"my  feelings  at  the  eventful  moment  when  I  became 
convinced  that  I  was  not  a  member  of  the  true  Church. 
Could  I  have  persuaded  myself  that  it  was  only  a 
dream,  and  that  the  illusion  would  pass  away  as 
soon  as  I  awoke,  what  a  consolation  would  it  have 
been  to  my  agitated  mind,  and  to  my  bleeding  soul ! 
But  I  could  not  do  so.     The  vizard  was  now  lifted, 


^o  Life  of  The 

and  I  shuddered  at  the  sight  of  what  it  had  so 
carefully  concealed  from  my  view."  Oertel's  Rea- 
sons for  becoming  a  Catholic,  p.  24. 

It  was  at  this  time  that  accident  made  him  ac- 
quainted with  the  pastor  of  St.  Mary's,  Rev.  Wm, 
Quarter;  and  the  kind,  affable  and  gentlemanly 
manners  of  this  zealous  priest  so  captivated  Mr. 
Oertel,  that  he  opened  to  him  his  heart.  "Rev.  Mr. 
Quarter  cheerfully  extended  his  hand,"  says  he,  "to 
support  my  weakness,  and  gave  his  advice  to  cheer 
my  mind."  He  furnished  him  with  works  which 
explained  correctly  the  Catholic  doctrines  and 
practices,  and  he  elucidated  whatever  might  seem 
obscure.  Mr.  Oertel  was  a  finished  scholar,  and  an 
excellent  theologian,  and  was  the  very  man  able  to 
detect  an  error  in  the  instructions  thus  imparted  to 
him,  if  one  existed.  He  had  already  detected  the 
errors  in  his  former  belief,  and  was  now  the  more 
alive  to  the  possibility  of  deceptions,  particularly  in 
the  teachings  of  a  Church  upon  which  he  had  hitherto 
looked  with  aversion. 

But  he  applied  to  this  Church  the  marks  by 
which  he  knew  that  her  claims  to  authority  were  to 
be  tested.  The  mark  of  unity  could  be  applied  to  her 
for  "all  her  members  agree  in  one  faith,  are  all  in  one 
communion,  and  are  all  under  one  head."  The 
mark  of  sanctity  could  be  applied  to  her:  for  "she 
teaches  a  holy  doctrine,  invites  all  to  a  holy  life, 
and  is  distinguished  by  the  eminent  sanctity  of  so 
many  thousands  of  her  children."  The  mark  of 
Catholicity  could  be  applied  to  her:  for  "she  teaches 


Rt.  Rev.  Wm.  Quarter  41 

all  nations,  extends  through  all  ages,  and  maintains 
all  truth."  The  mark  of  Apostolicity  applies  to  her: 
"because  from  the  apostles  has  she  received  her 
doctrine,  her  orders,  and  her  mission." 

Yes,  he  found  that  to  that  Church,  which  was 
ever  the  same;  which  though  kingdoms  and  empires, 
and  states  and  people,  have  risen  up  and  faded 
away,  was  herself  unchangeable;  which  teaches  now 
the  same  doctrine  taught  by  her  divine  Founder  on 
the  shores  of  the  sea  of  Galilee,  and  which  she  will 
teach  until  the  end  of  time;  that  to  that  Church 
only  would  these  marks  apply;  and,  resting  his 
fevered  temples  upon  that  holy  mother's  bosom, 
beneath  which  throbbed  the  fountain  of  a  vitality, 
as  enduring  as  the  word  of  God,  he  wept  for  very 
joy,  that  he  had  at  last  found  the  secure  haven, 
wherein  he  could  anchor  the  frail  bark  of  his  mor- 
tality, regardless  of  the  storms  that  might  howl 
and  the  waves  that  might  dash  against  her  with 
their  broken  fury,  until  the  coming  of  the  bright 
day,  when  he  might  plant  his  ransomed  feet  upon  the 
shores  of  that  land  which  is  within  the  walls  of  the 
heavenly  paradise. 

Mr.  Oertel  is  still  living  in  the  city  of  Baltimore, 
where  he  edits  a  Catholic  German  newspaper.  Dear 
to  him  must  be  the  memory  of  Bishop  Quarter, 
through  whose  instrumentality,  under  God,  he 
became  reconciled  to  that  Church,  which  ensures 
him  the  prospect  of  meeting  again  his  earthly 
mediator  in  heaven. 


^2  Life  of  The 


CHAPTER  IV. 

FROM  HIS  CONSECRATION  FOR  THE  SEE  OF  CHICAGO  UNTIL  THE 
END    OF    THE    FIRST    YEAR    OF    HIS    EPISCOPAL    LABOURS, 

1844 — 1845. 

The  Provincial  Council  that  assembled  in 
Baltimore  in  May,  1843,  finding  that  from  the  very 
great  spread  of  the  Catholic  Church  several  addi- 
tional Bishops  were  necessary,  passed  a  decree 
recommending  the  formation  of  the  New  Sees  of 
Chicago,  Illinois;  Little  Rock,  Arkansas;  Hartford, 
Connecticut;  and  Milwaukie,  Wisconsin;  and  the 
Apostolic  Vicarate  of  Oregon  Territory.  The  recom- 
mendation of  this  Council  was  immediately  acted 
upon  by  the  court  of  Rome :  and  accordingly,  in  the 
February  of  the  following  year  ( 1 844) ,  the  Apostolic 
letters  for  the  consecration  of  the  three  new  Bishops, 
who  were  to  be  taken  from  New  York,  arrived  in 
that  city;  and  on  the  loth  of  March,  1844,  these 
gentlemen  were  consecrated  in  St.  Patrick's  Cathe- 
dral, by  the  Rt.  Rev.  Dr.  John  Hughes,  Bishop  of 
New  York,  assisted  by  the  Rt.  Rev.  Dr.  Fenwick, 
Bishop  of  Boston,  and  Rt.  Rev.  Dr.  Whelan,  Bishop 
of  Richmond.  The  new  Bishops  were:  Rt.  Rev. 
Wm.  Quarter,  for  the  Diocese  of  Chicago;  Rt.  Rev. 
Andrew  Byrne,  for  the  Diocese  of  Little  Rock;  and 
Rt.  Rev.  John  McCloskey,  now  Bishop  of  Albany, 
Coadjutor  Bishop  of  New  York.  The  ceremony  of 
the  consecration  was  probably  one  of  the  most 
magnificant     spectacles     ever     witnessed     by     the 


Rt.  Rev.  Wm.  Quarter  4^ 

Catholics  of  the  empire  city. — The  Freeman's  Journal 
thus  describes  it : 

"At  half  past  nine  o'clock  precisely,  the  sacred  procession 
left  the  sacristy,  and  passing  along  the  raised  dais  outside  the 
sanctuary,  entered  in  front  of  the  great  altar.  First  went  the 
Acolytes,  Thunrifer,  and  the  Seminarians  of  St.  John's,  followed 
by  several  clergymen  of  New- York,  Brooklyn,  Jersey  City,  and 
other  parts  of  the  diocese,  with  a  few  from  Emmetsburg  College ; 
next  were — the  Senior  Assistant  Bishop  with  his  chaplain  and 
attendant;  the  three  Bishops  elect — Right  Rev.  Andrew 
Byrne,  Right  Rev.  William  Quarter,  and  Right  Rev.  John 
McCloskey,  with  their  chaplains  and  attendants;  the  other 
Assistant  Bishop,  with  his  chaplain  and  attendant;  then  the 
Master  of  Ceremonies,  the  Deacon  and  Sub-Deacon,  Assistant 
Priest,  and  other  attendants  of  the  consecrator;  the  procession 
being  closed  by  the  consecrator,  the  Right  Rev.  Bishop  of  New- 
York.  The  clergy  were  in  their  chasubles  or  their  surplices; 
the  Bishop  elect  in  amict.,  alb.,  cincture,  stole  and  cope,  and 
wearing  the  small  cap  common  to  the  clergy;  the  Assistant 
Bishops  in  rochets,  stoles,  copes  and  mitres,  and  the  consecra- 
tor in  full  pontificals — rochet,  stole,  cope,  mitre,  crozier,  &lc. 
The  vestments  of  the  consecrator  and  his  attendants  were  of 
the  richest  description,  and  literally  dazzled  the  eye.  The 
mitres  and  copes  of  the  Assistant  Bishops  were  also  distinguished 
for  their  beauty,  as  was  the  case  with  the  vestments  of  the 
clergy  generally.  As  the  procession  moved  slowly  forward,  its 
numbers,  splendour,  and  magnificence  of  array — chasubles 
and  copes  and  mitres  glittering  in  the  light — presented  a 
brilliant  and  imposing  spectacle. 

"Many  of  the  clergy  and  seminarians  (the  latter  particu- 
larly) had  not  room  in  the  sanctuary,  and  were  in  attendance  in 
the  sacristy,  with  or  without  their  cossacks.  Altogether,  the 
number  of  clergy  and  seminarians  present  during  the  day  could 
not  have  been  far  from  seventy;  and  to  the  Catholic  heart  it 
must  have  been  not  the  least  consoling  of  the  many  reflections 


44  Lif^  of  The 

suggested  by  the  occasion,  that  from  the  immediate  neighbour- 
hood of  this  one  city,  so  many  ecclesiastics  and  religious  could 
be  assembled,  and  without  withdrawing  from  a  single  con- 
gregation the  opportunities  of  divine  service  in  their  own  church. 
Surely  such  an  abundance  of  labourers  promises  well  for  the 
gathering  in  of  the  harvest  in  this  great  diocese!  God  grant 
it! — say  we. 

"The  ceremony  then  proceeded,  as  described  with  consider- 
able minuteness  in  this  paper  last  week,  until  the  end  of  the 
Gospel,  where  the  Preacher  of  the  Consecration  Sermon,  the 
Very  Rev.  John  Power,  D.  D.,  having  given  the  usual  saluta- 
tion to  the  Consecrator,  ascended  the  pulpit  and  commenced 
his  discourse. 

"At  Vespers  in  the  evening,  the  church  was  almost  as 
densely  crowded  as  in  the  morning.  The  discourse  was 
delivered  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Pise.  Five  of  the  Bishops  and  most 
of  the  clergy  were  present;  and  as  they  sat  in  the  Sanctuary,  the 
Pontificals  of  the  Bishops  and  the  Vestments  of  the  Priests 
shining  in  the  lights  which  burned  around,  the  observer  recalled 
involuntarily  what  the  historians  of  the  time  tell  of  the  magnifi- 
cance  of  the  famous  "Field  of  the  Cloth  of  Gold."  The  Vespers 
were  over  at  about  half  past  nine,  P.  M. 

"Thus  passed  and  terminated  a  day,  which,  in  no  spirit  of 
vain  words  we  say,  will  be  not  only  long  memorable  in  this 
diocese,  but  will  be  remarkable  in  the  annals  of  Catholicism  in 
the  United  States;  remarkable  that  it  witnessed  a  ceremony 
without  parallel  for  splendour  and  importance  in  this  country, 
the  Consecration  of  three  Bishops,  two  of  them  for  new  Sees ; 
remarkable,  that  it  assembled  more  of  the  worth  and  dignity 
of  our  American  Church  than  has  ever  before  been  brought 
together,  except  at  the  grand  Councils  of  thee  ntire  Province, 
six  Bishops  and  nearly  fifty  Priests;  remarkable,  also,  in  a 
higher  sense,  that  it  was  a  day  significant  of  past  progress  and 
future  promise,  speaking  to  the  Catholic  heart  with  silent  but 
thrilling  eloquence  of  great  triumphs  achieved,  and  of  those  still 
greater,  God  willing,  yet  to  be  accomplished:  and  recalling  to 


Rt.  Rev.  Wm.  Quarter  4^ 

it  irresistibly  the  consoling  conviction  that  the  Promise  of  the 
New  Covenant  is  eternal  with  the  Church,  and  that  those 
spiritual  princes  whom  she  on  that  day  sent  forth,  went  of  a 
surety  "conquering  and  to  conquer;"  remarkable,  in  fine, 
that  it  was  a  day  which,  long  years  hence— when  those  who 
performed  and  those  who  received  the  august  rite,  and  those 
who  looked  on  breathless  with  awe  at  the  mystery  before  them, 
shall  have  passed  away,  and  save  a  few,  been  all  forgotten — 
when,  as  we  trust  in  God  it  will  be,  the  mists  of  error  now 
darkening  our  well-loved  land  shall  have  disappeared  before 
the  ascending  Sun  of  Righteousness,  and  His  Church  shall  have 
won  over  to  her  sway  of  love  all  the  tongues  and  races  within 
the  republic,  so  that  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Mississippi,  and 
from  the  Mississippi  to  the  Pacific  shore,  there  shall  be  but  one 
faith  for  one  nation  of  free,  enlightened  and  happy  Americans — 
a  day  which  then  the  Catholic  historian  will  love  to  dwell  upon 
with  delight,  and  record  upon  his  glowing  page,  as  the  advent 
of  one  of  the  many  bright  eras  which  (please  God)  will  illustrate 
the  history  of  the  Church  of  Christ  in  the  New  World." 

Hard  must  have  been  the  struggle  to  the  sensi- 
tive Bishop  Quarter,  when  obliged  to  tear  himself 
away  from  his  faithful  f^ock  of  St.  Mary's,  who  had 
woven  themselves  around  his  heart,  by  whom  he  was 
so  tenderly  beloved,  and  among  whom  he  had 
laboured  so  long,  and  so  successfully.  Though  his 
good  father,  Bishop  Dubois,  was  gone  to  the  bosom 
of  his  God,  yet  from  his  successor  in  the  episcopal 
chair  of  New  York,  Rt.  Rev.  Dr.  Hughes,  (a  scion 
from  that  noble  tree  that  Bishop  Dubois  planted  at 
the  foot  of  the  Blue  Ridge) — it  cost  his  heart  a  pang 
to  separate.  Still  duty,  and  the  honour  and  glory 
of  God,  bade  him  forsake  all  things  for  Christ's 
sake,  and  go  again  among  the  strangers  for  his 
resting  place. 


46  Life  of  The 

He  was  anxious  to  enter  without  delay  upon  the 
field  of  his  labours,  where  the  harvest  was  fast 
ripening,  and  lest  one  ear  might  drop,  or  be  lost 
from  neglect.  Accordingly,  on  the  i8th  of  April, 
accompanied  by  his  brother.  Very  Rev.  Walter  J. 
Quarter,  he  departed  from  New  York  for  Chicago 
where  he  arrived  on  Sunday  morning,  May  the  5th. 
Though  fatigued  and  weary  from  his  long  and  very 
tedious  journey,  like  a  general  on  the  field  of  battle, 
he  was  at  once  at  his  post,  and  no  personal  con- 
siderations could  induce  this  faithful  servant  of  God 
to  neglect  for  a  moment  his  duty.  On  the  day  of  his 
arrival,  he  said  mass  in  the  old  church  and  preached 
in  the  new  one. 

The  old  church  was  a  long  low  frame  building, 
having  upon  it  a  small  steeple  and  bell.  It  was  on 
the  lot  directly  in  the  rear  of  the  Bishop's  dwelling. 
This  building  has  been  since  divided :  one  half  being 
used  as  the  Academy  of  St.  Joseph,  the  preparatory 
department  of  the  University  of  St.  Mary  of  the 
Lake.  The  other  half  was  removed  to  the  rear  of 
the  new  church,  to  be  used  by  the  Sisters  of  Mercy 
for  their  free  school. 

The  new  church,  then  unfinished,  is  the  present 
cathedral.  At  that  time  the  brick  walls  of  the 
church  were  merely  roofed,  and  four  posts  stood 
upright  where  the  steeple  now  stands.  "The  build- 
ing was  not  plastered;  a  temporary  altar  was  stuck 
up  against  the  western  wall.  There  was  no  vestry; 
the  sanctuary  was  enclosed  with  rough  boards;  the 
children  were  seated  on  benches,  on  each  side,  where 


Rt.  Rev.  Wm.  Quarter  47 

the  vestries  are  now. — There  were  neither  columns, 
nor  steps,  nor  doors,  (except  temporary  ones  made 
of  rough  boards;)  and  worse  than  all,  even  that 
much  of  a  church  was  burdened  with  about  three 
thousand  dollars  of  debt.  Add  to  this,  that  on  the 
adjoining  lot,  where  the  Convent  of  Mercy  now 
stands,  the  whole  purchase-money,  about  1000 
dollars,  was  unpaid,  as  also  four  hundred  dollars  on 
the  grave-yard.  Thus  there  was  near  five  thousand 
dollars  debt  contracted  by  his  predecessors,  and 
some  of  this  debt  bearing  interest  at  from  10  to  12 
per  cent.,"  was  left  as  a  legacy  to  the  new  Bishop  of 
Chicago!  With  an  unfinished  church,  and  a  poor 
congregation,  and  such  a  debt,  what  a  prospect  had 
he!  Dark  and  dreary  enough  it  must  have  been, 
but  there  was  before  him  a  bright  star,  beckoning 
him  and  alluring  him  onward;  and  with  his  eye 
steadily  fixed  on  that  hope-star,  he  faltered  not. 

Such  was  the  condition  of  the  church  of  Chicago, 
when  Bishop  Quarter  took  possession  of  his  see. 
How  different  was  the  state  of  affairs,  that  day  on 
which  he  stood  for  the  last  time  in  the  pulpit  of  his 
beautiful  church,  when  the  mellow  tones  of  the 
magnificent  organ  were  re-echoed  by  the  lofty  domes 
and  the  spacious  aisles,  filling  all  the  hearts  that 
came  there  to  treasure  up  his  burning  words  with 
hopes  of  the  enjoyment  of  heavenlier  strains,  when 
the  choirs  above  will  take  up  the  chant,  intoned 
below,  and  continue  it  forever  around  the  throne  of 
the  Invisible. 


^8  l-^f^  of  The 

He  considered  it  impossible  that  the  congregation 
of  St.  Mary's  in  Chicago  could  at  that  time  pay  the 
debt  upon,  and  finish  their  church,  and  therefore 
he  and  his  brother  having  united  their  funds,  paid  it 
with  their  own  private  means.  His  generous-hearted 
flock  followed  this  noble  example.  The  city  was 
divided  into  districts;  proper  collectors  were  ap- 
pointed; and  so  harmoniously  and  successfully  did 
they  labour,  that  in  about  a  year  they  had  the 
happiness  of  kneeling  before  the  new  altar  in  their 
finished  church,  whose  glittering  spire  and  golden 
cross  reflect  the  first  rays  of  the  morning  sun,  as 
it  rises  out  of  the  bosom  of  the  broad  and  beautiful 
Lake  Michigan. 

This  was  the  first,  and  at  that  time  the  only 
steeple  in  Chicago;  and  its  cross,  the  emblem  of 
man's  salvation,  perched  upon  the  summit  of  that 
steeple,  is  the  first  object  that  presents  itself  to  the 
traveller  approaching  the  harbour  from  the  lakes, 
or  far  away  upon  the  prairie,  as  his  eye  rests  upon  the 
"city  of  the  plain."  But  it  is  no  longer  the  only  one : 
for  several  beautiful  steeples  and  spires  now  adorn 
the  different  churches;  yet  of  all  these,  St.  Mary's 
(true  to  her  heavenly  origin)  is  the  only  one  that  is 
not  ashamed  to  rear  on  high  that  sign  which  will  be 
the  sign  of  victory — of  the  triumph  of  the  Son  of 
man,  when  he  comes  in  the  clouds  of  heaven  to 
judge  the  world! 

Previous  to  the  erection  of  the  new  see  of  Chicago, 
the  greater  part  of  the  state  of  Illinois  had  been 
under  the  episcopal  jurisdiction  of  the  Bishop  of 


Rt.  Rev.  Wm.  Quarter  49 

Vincennes,  in  the  State  of  Indiana.  The  clergymen 
in  this  district  therefore  belonged  to  that  diocese. 
As  soon  as  it  was  known  that  his  episcopal  power  in 
Illinois  was  about  to  be  superseded,  the  Bishop  of 
Vincennes  recalled  all  his  priests  from  the  diocese 
of  Chicago.  They  obeyed  immediately,  excepting 
four  who  were  unwilling  to  leave  unprotected  the 
children  committed  to  their  spiritual  charge,  as  they 
must  in  that  case  (having  no  pastors)  have  been  for  a 
long  time  deprived  of  the  consolations  of  their  holy 
religion. 

Two  of  these  gentlemen  were  Rev.  Maurice  de 
Saint  Palais,  the  present  worthy  Bishop  of  Vincennes, 
and  Rev.  Mr.  Fischer,  and  they  were  the  only 
officiating  clergymen  in  Chicago  on  the  arrival  of 
Bishop  Quarter.  Much  service  as  they  might  have 
rendered  to  the  new  Bishop,  their  stay  with  him  was 
but  short  indeed;  for  early  in  the  month  of  June 
their  immediate  return  to  the  diocese  of  Vincennes 
was  commanded,  their  Bishop,  suspending  their 
functions  until  they  obeyed.  Bishop  Quarter  could 
obtain  neither  mitigation  of  the  penalty,  nor  privilege 
for  them  to  remain  with  him  any  time.  They  were, 
therefore,  obliged  to  depart,  and  to  leave  him  without 
a  priest  to  watch  over  the  districts  in  which  they 
had  officiated.  This  was  a  great  and  unexpected 
difficulty,  but,  like  every  other  that  beset  his  path, 
it  was  met  resolutely. 

He  was  soon  able,  however,  to  add  to  his  priests, 
and  before  the  end  of  the  month  of  June  he  had 
ordained    three,    among    whom    was    the    present 


^o  I^iU  of  The 

distinguished  V.  President  of  the  University  of 
St.  Mary's  of  the  Lake,  Very  Rev.  Jeremiah  A. 
Kinsella. 

On  the  5th  of  May,  as  we  have  seen.  Bishop 
Quarter  arrived  in  Chicago,  and  on  the  third  of  June 
he  opened  the  new  Catholic  College,  the  germ  of  the 
present  University,  in  the  building  formerly  occupied 
as  the  old  church.  This  establishment  commenced 
with  two  professors  and  six  students. 

He  was  ever  a  most  liberal  patron  of  education, 
considering  that  among  his  first  duties  he  should 
provide  means  for  that  end.  Not  for  that  education 
which  the  world  generally  dignifies  with  the  title; 
but  for  an  education  by  which  the  mental  and 
the  moral  man  would  be  cultivated  together;  in 
which  the  being  would  be  taught  to  consider  the 
instructions  of  this  life  as  merely  the  means  for 
obtaining  the  great  end  for  which  we  were  all 
created. 

There  is  a  physiological  law  which  teaches,  that 
Practice  or  Repetition  is  essential  to  induce  facility  of 
mental  and  moral,  as  well  as  of  bodily  action;  and, 
therefore,  in  mental  and  moral  education  this  fact 
is  so  important,  that  it  should  be  engraven  on  the 
heart  of  every  one  interested  in  the  welfare  of 
society.  It  is  only  by  repetition,  that  impressions 
can  be  made  upon  the  mind,  so  as  to  render  them 
permanent.  A  truth  may  be  enunciated;  but  it  is 
only  by  repetition  that  it  escapes  oblivion.  As  no 
accomplishment  can  be  attained  by  a  single  effort,  so, 
when  the  mind  is  engaged  upon  any  new  subject,  it 


Rt.  Rev.  Wm.  Quarter  5/ 

is   only   by   study,   viz.,   by   repeating,    that   it   is 
mastered. 

The  extent  to  which  this  law  of  repetition  effects 
the  intellectual  and  moral  condition  of  the  world, 
has  not  been  properly  estimated;  and  though  I 
cannot  enter  fully  into  the  subject  in  a  work  of  this 
kind,  yet  I  cannot  pass  it  unnoticed  altogether,  and, 
when  writing  respecting  the  foundation  of  a  College 
for  the  purposes  of  education,  I  will  be  pardoned,  I 
hope,  the  digression. 

If  we  would  be  kind,  sociable,  polite,  &c.,  &c.,  we 
must  be  always  so,  whether  in  private  or  in  public. 
If  we,  in  the  retirement  of  our  homes,  indulge  in 
habits  or  in  language  that  we  would  hide  from  the 
world's  eye  and  ear,  we  will  betray  ourselves  often 
when  we  do  not  expect  it.  Therefore  it  is,  that 
with  all  his  efforts  to  appear  genteel,  an  ill-bred  or  a 
profane  man,  will,  in  spite  of  all  his  watchfulness, 
betray  his  accustomed  associations;  for  the  habit, 
which  has  grown  with  his  growth,  and  strengthened 
with  his  strength,  cannot  be  controlled.  As  are 
those  associations,  such  will  be  the  character  of  the 
man  for  life;  and  for  the  one  that  rises  above  the 
vicious  associations  of  early  years,  ten  thousand  sink 
into  the  depths  of  sin  and  infamy,  so  low,  that  there 
is  no  escape  for  them  but  through  the  gates  of 
death.  Thus  it  comes  that  our  cities,  densely 
populated,  are  filled  with  wretches,  fit  ministers  for 
every  crime.  They  have  never  known  what  virtue 
is — they  have  grown  up  in  the  haunts  where  thieves 
and   gamblers   and   drunkards   congregate ;— where 


^2  Life  of  The 

cunning,  cheating,  and  beastly  gratification  hold 
their  empire ; — where  no  warning  voice  is  ever  raised 
in  behalf  of  honesty  or  piety,  or  against  the  bad 
example  set  before  them.  As  these  vices  are  daily 
held  up  before  their  eyes,  they  become  practised, 
and,  in  accordance  with  the  principle  laid  down,  by 
the  repetition,  increase  upon  them,  until  they 
swallow  up  every  virtuous  sentiment  that  God  may 
have  implanted  in  their  hearts,  and  that,  watered  by 
the  careful  hand  of  innocence,  might  have  produced 
fruit  ripening  for  immortality. 

If  these  individuals  had  been  blessed  with  the 
privilege  of  better  associations,  with  the  temperate, 
the  honourable,  the  virtuous,  the  same  law  of 
repetition  would  have  so  strengthened  them,  as  to 
have  enabled  them  to  stand  firm  against  the  seduc- 
tions that  beset  their  early  years,  and  that  lie 
like  pit-falls  all  around  their  pathway  through  life. 

It  is  passing  strange,  that,  with  the  evidences 
daily  and  hourly  staring  us  in  the  face,  that  appeals 
to  the  intellect  will  never  fix  permanently  a  high 
moral  feeling  or  course  of  education,  we  should  be  so 
negligent  of  the  fact  thus  demonstrated,  that  it  is 
the  brain  we  cultivate,  and  not  the  immaterial 
principle,  mind.  When  we  wish  to  accomplish 
either  of  the  purposes  of  which  I  have  just  spoken, 
we  do  what  scarce  any  one  is  aware  we  do,  viz.,  we 
exercise  the  brain.  How  long  would  it  be  before 
appeals  to  the  intellect  would  convert  the  hardened 
heart  from  its  wickedness!  But  if  the  feelings  of 
kindness,  of  love  and  of  sympathy,  may  have  been 


Rt.  Rev.  Wm.  Quarter  53 

early  exercised  until  they  are  easily  called  up  from 
the  great  deep  in  which  years  had  entombed  them, 
how  readily  do  appeals  for  this  purpose  find  their 
way  to  the  heart  and  produce  abundant  harvest! 
And  yet  we  never  think  but  that  the  harvest  springs 
immediately  from  the  edge  of  the  sickle  that  is 
gathering  it;  we  never  think  that  the  seed  must 
have  been  long  sown;  that  the  germ  must  have 
grown;  that  the  husbandman  merely  gathers  what 
somie  other  hand  planted. 

From  the  very  savage  that  prowls  through  our 
forests,  or  hunts  the  deer  and  the  buffalo  upon  our 
far-away  prairies,  we  might  learn  wisdom.  If  he 
wishes  the  young  warrior  he  is  rearing  to  distinguish 
the  sound  of  the  footstep  of  his  foe,  he  does  not 
merely  point  out  the  way  he  should  listen,  lay  down 
the  rules,  &c.,  but  he  directs  him  to  put  his  ear  to 
the  ground,  and  by  the  effect  produced  upon  a 
material  organ,  by  the  exercise  of  that  organ  until 
it  is  capable  of  distinguishing  those  sounds,  does  he 
train  him.  If  he  wishes  him  to  excel  in  the  various 
accomplishments  of  savage  life — in  lying  in  wait — in 
ambush — in  daring  attack — in  courage — in  contempt 
of  pain — of  fatigue — in  revenge — he  practises  him 
in  the  same  manner  by  the  exercise  of  the  material 
instrument,  until  he  is  worthy  to  become  a  chief  of 
his  tribe;  and  yet  if  we  reflect  but  one  moment,  we 
will  be  satisfied  that  it  is  the  mind,  which  thus 
manifests  itself  through  its  exercised  material  organ, 
and  accomplishes  his  purpose. 


54  LiU  of  The 

Thus  should  it  be  with  us.  If  we  wish  our 
children  to  excel  in  the  accomplishments  of  civilized 
life — if  we  wish  them  to  be  modest,  humble,  virtuous 
in  the  most  extended  sense, — a  solace  to  our  gray 
hairs,  we  must  exercise  and  cultivate  in  them  the 
virtues  we  wish  them  to  possess.     We  must  make 

THIS    EXERCISE   A    PART    OF   THEIR   DAILY   LIFE.      We 

must  educate  the  conscience; — we  must  educate  all 
the  feelings,  in  order  that  they  may  become  the 
sources  of  happiness  here,  and  of  hope  hereafter. 
We  will  then  learn  how  much  easier  it  is  to  practise 
virtue  than  vice; — how  much  easier  it  will  be  to 
make  the  world  a  better  place. 

Man  does  not  come  from  the  hand  of  his  Creator 
necessarily  vicious,  he  is  made  so  by  *an  erroneous 
education;  and  if  we  would  remedy  this  error,  we 
must  search  for  its  source,  and  we  will  find  that  it  is 
in  the  ignorance  of  the  fact,  that  the  virtues  must  be 
cultivated  as  well  as  the  physical  organs,  in  order 
that  they  should  be  vigorous. 

How  erroneous  then  is  that  course  of  education 
which  excludes  religious  training; — which  appeals 
to  the  intellect  only,  and  not  to  the '  moral  and 
religious  sentiments  and  affections!  Many,  it  is 
true,  both  schools  and  parents,  profess  to  give  their 
pupils  and  children  religious  instructions;  but  it  is 
by  moral  precepts  which  appeal  to  the  intellect  only, 
and  which  are  uttered  only  to  be  forgotten;  may  be 
are  contradicted  by  the  practise  which  alone  can 
make  them  permanent. 


Rt.  Rev.  Wm.  Quarter  55 

What  I  contend  for  is  the  necessity  of  the  daily 
repetition  of,  or  education  in  virtuous  practises ;  and 
in  the  practical  education  of  the  young,  it  becomes  a 
matter  of  the  highest  moment,  to  remember  that 
the  moral  sentiments  and  the  intellectual  processes 
are  absolutely  dependent  on  the  physical  organiza- 
tion, and  require  that  daily  cultivation  as  much  as 
any  of  the  physical  operations  of  the  body.  How 
absurd  then  to  expect,  that  the  moral  instruction 
given  on  one  day  in  the  seven,  is  sufficient  to  counter- 
act the  immoral  impressions  that  are  likely  to  be 
made  on  the  other  six  days! 

We  cannot,  therefore,  sufficiently  cherish  those 
institutions  that  combine  religious  training  with  the 
intellectual.  They  are  the  only  props  that  sustain 
society  against  the  deluge  of  indifferentism  and 
infidelity,  that  is  sweeping  over  the  land.  Thank 
God!  that  in  the  Catholic  Church  are  to  be  found 
societies  of  men  and  women  who  devote  their  lives 
to  this  noble  enterprise ! 

When  we  look  to  the  future  as  well  as  to  the 
present ;  to  the  children  and  to  the  children's  children, 
that  will  be  saved  from  everlasting  perdition,  (to  say 
nothing  of  the  bad  example  their  evil  course  would 
have  given,  and  of  its  effects  upon  the  world,) 
saved,  I  say,  by  the  timely  instruction  furnished  at 
such  institutions,  we  can  estimate,  in  a  measure,  the 
debt  of  gratitude  which  the  world  owes  to  the 
founders  of  these  schools.  They  are  indeed  bene- 
factors of  their  people  and  of  their  age,  and  of  ages 
far  down  the  stream  of  time,  when  their  names  will 


5 6  Life  of  The 

have  been  long  forgotten.  Thus  will  the  schools 
established  by  Bishop  Quarter  continue  to  shed 
abroad  over  the  world  the  light  of  science  and  of 
religion,  forming  an  holy  union,  blessed  before  the 
throne  of  God,  strewing  the  thorny  pathway  of  life 
with  roses  that  bloom  even  in  the  winter  of  age,  and 
deck  with  their  never-fading  loveliness  the  lonesome 
prison-house  of  the  grave. 

How  strongly  did  he  urge  the  wedded  union  of 
religion  and  philosophy,  and  while  he  wished  to 
store  the  intellect  with  treasures  of  learning,  he 
endeavoured  to  furnish  the  heart  with  unfailing 
support  against  the  bitter  trials  of  life!  Here 
indeed  does  religion  fulfil  her  divine  mission,  turning 
the  wayworn  and  the  weary  into  that  beautiful  valley 
of  virtue  and  faith,  where  its  purified  waters  will 
bring  refreshment  to  the  seared  hearts  of  thousands, 
causing  them  to  bless  the  author  of  their  being,  and 
teaching  them  to  look  with  a  steady  eye  onward,  to 
that  home  in  which  they  may  sit  down  to  rest  after 
their  pilgrimage  is  ended — that  home  in  their  father's 
house  in  heaven. 

So  eager  was  he  to  establish  schools  of  a  kind  in 
which  the  very  highest  order  of  literary  and  scientific 
learning  would  be  imparted  together  with  proper 
religious  instruction,  that  he  determined  to  establish 
a  University;  and  on  the  iqth  of  December  of  this 
year  a  bill  was  passed  by  the  legislature,  incor- 
porating "the  University  of  St.  Mary  of  the  Lake." 

With  the  same  solicitude  for  the  spiritual  welfare 
of  the  children  under  his  charge,  that  characterized 


Rt.  Rev.  Wm.  Quarter  57 

his  efforts  in  behalf  of  the  children  of  St.  Mary's, 
New  York,  he  now,  when  he  could  obtain  a  moment's 
leisure,  set  about  providing  means  for  their  spiritual 
instructions,  more  directly  even  than  could  be 
accomplished  in  the  schools ;  and  for  this  purpose  he 
formed  those  children  into  a  pious  association,  and 
the  lessons  then  learned  from  his  lips  show  their 
fruit  in  the  virtuous  and  exemplary  young  men  and 
women  that  form  part  of  the  Catholic  youth  of 
Chicago. 

The  same  legislature  that  passed  the  law  incor- 
porating the  University  of  St.  Mary  of  the  Lake, 
passed  a  bill  empowering  the  Bishop  of  Chicago  and 
his  successors  to  hold  property  in  trust  for  the  use 
of  the  Catholic  Church.  The  passage  of  a  law, 
which,  as  far  as  I  know,  exists  in  every  diocese  in  the 
United  States,  has  in  itself  nothing  strange  or 
unusual,  nor  would  it  have  found  a  notice  here, 
only  that  from  want  of  understanding  its  nature, 
it  has  been  sometimes  represented  in  a  false  light, 
and  has  been  supposed  to  be  an  unreasonable  law. 
Some  of  the  advantages  of  this  law  are,  that  as 
properties  are  held  in  trust  for  the  Church,  and  not 
as  personal  property,  they  must  in  every  contingency 
be  more  secure.  As  the  title  of  Bishop  of  Chicago 
and  his  successors  is  recognised  by  the  laws  of  the 
State  by  virtue  of  this  act,  properties,  willed  to  the 
Bishop  of  Chicago  for  charitable  purposes,  can  be 
legally  recovered,  and  applied  to  their  destined  uses. 
This  could  not  otherwise  have  been  done,  unless 
such   bequests    were   made   to   the    Bishop    in   his 


^8  Life  of  The 

individual  capacity,  and  not  as  Bishop  of  Chicago; 
and,  therefore,  his  relatives  might,  in  case  of  his 
sudden  death,  have  deprived  the  Church  of  its  rights, 
and  the  poor  of  the  charities  intended  for  them. 

Bishop  Quarter  had  now  a  charter  for  his  new 
College,  and  he  wished  next  to  establish  an  Eccle- 
siastical Seminary,  in  which  he  might  educate  young 
men  for  the  holy  ministry,  in  order  to  supply  the 
wants  of  his  diocese.  Great  was  the  dearth  of 
clergymen  in  it,  and  all  his  energies  were  applied  to 
remove  this  very  serious  obstacle  to  his  progress. 
There  was,  however,  a  very  great  bar  in  the  way  of 
the  accomplishment  of  this  his  purpose  and  that 
was  the  lack  of  means  to  erect  the  buildings.  With 
a  view  to  procure  this  means,  he  left  Chicago  for 
New  York,  early  in  the  April  of  1845.  He  was 
absent  about  four  months,  and  during  that  time 
he  collected  a  large  sum  of  money,  which  enabled 
him  to  commence  the  erection  of  the  building.  On 
the  17th  of  October  the  foundation  of  the  College 
and  Seminary  was  begun;  so  rapidly  did  the  work 
progress,  that  on  the  2 id  of  November  they  were 
under  roof. 

The  amount  of  money  that  he  had  collected  in 
the  diocese  of  New  York,  was  not  sufficient  to 
enable  him  to  complete  these  buildings;  and,  in 
order  to  do  this,  his  pastoral  of  1846  was  directed 
to  his  faithful  clergymen,  directing  them  to  assist 
him  in  his  undertaking.     He  says: 

"Although  our  holy  religion  advances  daily  and  steadily, 
under  the  protecting  care  of  Divine  Providence,  and  although 


Rt.  Rev.  Wm.  Quarter  59 

the  number  of  the  clergy  has  been  considerably  increased  within 
the  last  two  years,  still  are  there  several  congregations  in  the 
Diocese,  deprived  the  whole  year  round  of  the  consolations  of 
their  Religion.  There  are  many  who  have  not  the  happiness 
to  assist  even  once  in  the  twelve  months  at  the  Adorable 
Sacrifice  of  the  Mass;  and  numbers  die  annually  without 
receiving  the  last  rites  of  the  Church,  especially  in  those  months 
when  sickness  is  most  prevalent  in  these  Western  States,  and 
all  this  because  the  clergymen  are  not  as  yet  sufficiently  numer- 
ous in  this  diocese  to  have  one  stationed  in  each  congregation. 
Another  melancholy  evil  arising  also  from  the  scarcity  of  clergy- 
men, is,  that  the  children  of  Catholic  parents,  in  various  sections 
of  the  State,  are  suffered  to  grow  up  without  any  religious  in- 
struction. If  the  present,  in  their  regard,  be  painful  to  reflect 
upon,  the  future  presents  a  dismal  and  a  dreary  aspect. 

"It  is  not  necessary  that  I  make  here  reflections.  The 
naked  facts  cannot  fail  to  touch  every  Christian  heart.  They 
who  have  always  enjoyed  the  consolations  of  their  holy  religion, 
and  who  never  experienced  the  agony  occasioned  by  the  absence 
of  a  priest,  especially  when  sickness,  disease  and  death  were 
near,  or  had  already  smitten  some  of  their  friends  or  family, 
cannot,  perhaps,  fully  appreciate  the  sad  and  forlorn  condition 
of  those  around  whom  all  those  miseries  have  gathered.  Still, 
they  cannot  be  so  hardened  as  not  to  sympathize  with  their 
afflicted  brethren.  They  who  have  already  tasted  of  this  cup 
of  sorrows,  know  too  well  its  bitterness  to  need  a  word  of 
explanation. 

"Are  those  evils  to  remain,  or  shall  no  effort  be  made  to  re- 
move them  ?  Will  no  effort  be  made  to  send  to  our  brethren  that 
are  far  away  from  their  father's  house,  and  toiling  in  bondage, 
an  adviser, — a  consoler, — yea,  a  deliverer?  Will  no  effort 
be  made  to  secure  a  pious,  a  disinterested,  a  zealous  clergy, 
who  may  go  to  the  exile  in  his  lone  hut,  in  his  solitary  and 
desert  home,  with  words  of  peace  on  their  lips  and  blessings  in 
their  train,  to  offer  the  Adorable  Mysteries,  to  administer  the 
Sacraments,  and  to  instruct  in  the  ways  of  Salvation?    To 


6o  Life  of  The 

enable  the  Bishop  to  send  missionaries  where  they  are  most 
needed,  will  not  the  faithful  generously  co-operate  and  assist 
with  their  means?  Can  any  alms  be  better  bestowed  than 
those  which  are  given  to  have  the  poor  relieved,  the  sick 
visited,  the  afflicted  and  sorrowing,  soothed  and  consoled,  the 
ignorant  instructed,  and  the  seeds  of  virtue  planted  in  the 
youthful  breast  ?  Can  any  alms  be  more  micritorious  than  those 
which  tend  to  preserve  the  soul  from  eternal  ruin?  Without 
the  charitable  co-operation  of  the  faithful  throughout  the 
Diocese,  little,  comparatively,  can  be  done  by  the  Bishop; 
with  it,  much  can  be  effected.  Were  every  adult  Catholic  in 
the  Diocese,  or  even  every  head  of  a  family,  to  contribute  but 
one  dollar  annually  towards  the  support  of  the  Diocesan 
Ecclesiastical  Seminary,  that  has  been  in  existence  about  two 
years,  soon  could  missionaries  be  sent  to  every  congregation  in 
the  Diocese.  As  yet,  however,  the  Catholics  of  the  Diocese 
have  contributed  but  little  towards  the  support  of  this  Eccle- 
siastical Seminary.  They  are  now  requested  to  be  more  con- 
siderate hereafter.  They  are  emphatically  requested  to  turn 
their  attention  and  to  direct  their  charitable  donations  to  an 
Institution  where  the  future  priests  of  the  Diocese  are  being, 
and  are  to  be,  educated,  and  from  whence  many  have  already 
gone  forth  to  labour  in  the  vineyard  of  the  Lord.  The  Eccle- 
siastical Seminary  of  the  Diocese  has  to  depend  for  support  on 
the  voluntary  contributions  of  the  faithful.  To  it,  in  their  turn, 
are  the  faithful  to  look,  both  now  and  hereafter,  for  a  supply 
of  zealous  missionaries.  Will  they  refuse  then  their  fostering 
care?  Will  they  deny  to  it  support,  and  still  expect  to  have 
clergymen  sent  to  them  when  they  are  in  need?" 

Addressing  each  of  his  clergymen  separately,  he 
entreats  them  to  use  their  utmost  exertions  in 
behalf  of  the  new  Seminary  in  order  to  sustain  it. 
He  says : 

"To  you,  Rev.  and  Dear  Sir,  do  I  confidently  and  unhesi- 
tatingly entrust  the  task  of  explaining  more  fully  to  your 


Rt.  Rev.  Wm.  Quarter  6i 

people,  the  vast  importance  to  Religion  of  contributing  towards 
the  support  of  our  Ecclesiastical  Seminary, — you  know  the 
wants  of  the  people — you  have  discovered  how  fast  irreligion  is 
spreading,  where  religious  instruction  is  not  imparted — you 
have  heard,  with  aching  heart,  the  God  of  Heaven  blasphemed 
— you  have  witnessed  with  sorrow  the  contempt  shown  for  the 
sacred  institutions  of  Christ — you  have  seen  with  hrror  and 
dismay,  the  blood  of  Calvary  that  was  shed  for  the  redemption 
of  the  world,  impiously  trodden  under  foot — your  remonstrances 
might  have  been  fruitless,  and  you  could  only  pray  in  the 
words  of  your  Divine  Master:  'O  Heavenly  Father,  forgive 
them,  for  they  know  not  what  they  do;' — you  have  seen  Christians 
transgress  against  all  the  commandments  of  God,  and  of  his  Holy 
Church,  and  indulge  in  crimes,  from  the  commission  of  which, 
even  Pagans  would  recoil — you  discovered  that  the  sacraments, 
the  channels  through  which  the  Grace  of  God  was  to  be  com- 
municated to  the  souls  of  Christians,  were  neglected,  and  that 
the  Sinner,  hardened  in  guilt,  would  rather  suffer  his  immortal 
soul  to  perish  eternally,  than  forsake  the  evil  of  his  ways.  At 
the  sight  of  these  evils  your  soul  melted  in  anguish,  and  you 
desired  and  prayed  that  you  might  behold,  in  the  midst  of  this 
erring  people,  an  Apostolic  Priesthood,  who  by  their  pious, 
assiduous,  and  disinterested  labours,  might  reclaim  them  again 
to  God,  and  give  them  back  sightly  plants  to  the  vineyard  of  his 
Holy  Church;  you  have  experienced,  moreover,  how  great  are 
the  toils,  how  many  the  privations,  and  how  few  the  earthly 
consolations  of  our  small  but  very  zealous  body  of  Clergymen; 
you  felt  that  an  increase  of  numbers  was  much  needed,  needed 
to  aid  and  assist  those  already  engaged  in  the  toilsome  labours 
of  the  missions,  that  their  valuable  lives  may  not  be  shortened 
by  over-exertion,  and  that  the  vineyard  of  the  Lord  may  be 
cultivated  properly,  and  in  every  part,  that  for  heaven  may  be 
reaped  hereafter  a  rich  harvest  of  those  souls  for  whose  salvation 
Christ  shed  his  precious  blood. 

"Because  of  these  motives,  you  will  concur,  and  heartily 
aid  in  the  success  of  this  holy  work. 


62  Life  of  The 

"The  grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  be  with  your  spirit. 
**  fWILLIAM,  Bishop  of  Chicago. 

"Given  at  Chicago,  Feast  of  St.  Francisl 
Xaverius,  Dec.  4,  1846."  J 

These  eloquent  appeals  never  failed  to  find  an 
echo  in  their  hearts ;  for  so  did  this  body  of  clergymen 
love  their  Bishop,  that  it  was  enough  for  them  to 
know  what  was  his  will  or  wish,  in  order  to  set  about 
gratifying  it. 


Rt.  Rev.  Wm.  Quarter  63 


CHAPTER  V. 

FROM     THE     COMMENCEMENT     OF     THE     SECOND     YEAR     OF     HIS 
EPISCOPACY    UNTIL   HIS    DEATH.       1 845 — 1 848. 

During  the  first  year  of  his  mission  that  was 
now  passed,  he  had  surmounted  all  the  difficulties 
that  threatened  his  outset.  His  Cathedral  was 
finished  and  paid  for ;  his  College  and  Seminary  were 
in  progress;  he  had  supplied  with  pastors  many 
missions  hitherto  deprived  of  the  consolation  of 
religion;  and  although  he  came  to  a  Diocese  almost 
stripped  of  clergymen,  he  had  now  a  goodly  array 
with  which  to  battle  against  the  powers  of  darkness. 
He  had  ordained  seven  young  men,  and  occasionally 
an  American  or  an  Irish  or  a  German  priest  would 
find  his  way  to  this  far-out  corner  of  the  Church, 
adding  to  his  numbers  and  his  strength. 

As  the  clergymen  who  could  minister  to  the 
spiritual  wants  of  the  people  increased,  so  did  the 
numbers  of  the  people  increase.  Catholics  began 
now  to  pour  in  from  other  and  distant  states  and 
countries;  and  St.  Mary's  Church  was  already  too 
small  to  contain  all  the  worshippers  that  came  up  to 
bow  their  hearts  and  bend  their  knees  before  her  holy 
altar.  A  new  church  was  required  to  accommodate 
them,  and  on  the  loth  of  March,  1846,  the  frame  of 
St.  Patrick's  Church,  on  the  west  side  of  the  Chicago 
River,  was  erected  by  the  Very  Rev.  Walter  Quarter, 
who  was  the  first  pastor  of  it. 


64  ^if^  of  The 

In  the  same  month  was  commenced  the  erection 
of  two  Catholic  German  churches,  one  on  the  north 
side  and  the  other  on  the  south  side  of  the  main 
river. 

Immediately  after  the  return  of  the  Bishop 
from  the  Provincial  Council  of  Baltimore,  which  was 
held  in  this  year,  he  opened  his  new  Seminary.  He 
had  at  the  same  time  the  satisfaction  of  witnessing 
the  completion  of  the  first  monument  of  his  enter- 
prise. The  last  touch  of  the  painter's  brush  had 
been  given  to  his  new  University,  and  on  the  fourth 
of  July  it  was  opened  with  appropriate  ceremonies 
for  the  reception  of  pupils. 

Its  career  commenced  with  two  professors 
and  two  teachers,  and  sixteen  pupils.  It  gradually 
progressed  until  he  had  the  happiness,  even  during 
his  life,  of  witnessing  the  success  of  his  undertaking, 
of  seeing  the  "sapling  become  the  oak  tree" — and 
now  there  are  eleven  professors  employed  by  the 
University,  four  tutors,  and  the  number  of  pupils  is 
125. 

The  course  of  instruction  is  as  extensive  as  is 
given  in  the  best  Colleges  in  the  United  States,  and 
some  of  the  departments  are  more  practical  than 
are  to  be  found  elsewhere,  while  the  college-fee  is 
only  1 50  dollars  per  annum. 

The  location  is  a  beautiful  and  healthy  one,  just 
on  the  borders  of  Lake  Michigan;  and  the  ample 
grounds  and  the  extensive  meadows  in  the  vicinity 
afford  students  ample  opportunity  of  enjoying 
healthful  exercise  and  abundant  recreation  in  the 


Rt.  Rev.  Wm.  Quarter  65 

free,  open  air — while  the  College  itself,  though 
situated  within  the  city  limits,  is  far  enough  removed 
from  the  business-part  to  make  it  favourable  to  the 
pursuits  of  study. 

He  had  now  completed  his  College,  his  Seminary, 
the  two  Catholic  English  churches  of  St.  Mary's  and 
St.  Patrick's,  the  two  Catholic  German  churches  of 
St.  Peter  and  St.  Joseph  in  the  city,  and  the  diocese 
was  in  a  flourishing  condition.  But  there  was  yet 
a  want  unsupplied.  The  male  youths  of  the  congre- 
gation were  furnished  with  good  schools  and  proper 
facilities  for  receiving  instruction ;  the  female  portion 
had  as  yet  no  such  facilities.  But  if  they  were 
unprovided,  it  was  not  because  he  did  not  feel  the 
necessity  of  such  provision,  but  because  it  could  not 
possibly  have  been  sooner  made. 

No  man  living  was  more  deeply  impressed  with 
the  necessity  of  a  proper  training  for  the  female 
youth  than  Bishop  Quarter.  He  knew  that  to 
them,  as  mothers,  wives  and  daughters,  would  in  a 
great  measure  be  entrusted  the  character  of  his 
people.  He  knew  that  the  society  in  which  they 
might  mingle,  would  bear  the  character  they  would 
stamp  upon  it,  and  that  by  his  mother  would  the 
man  be  marked  for  weal  or  wo.  It  is  true  that 
those  female  children  whose  parents  could  watch 
over  them,  might  fulfil  their  expectations;  but 
what  would  have  become  of  the  female  poor,  whose 
parents,  in  their  hard  struggle  for  bread,  had  no 
time  to  devote  to  them,  and  could  not  provide  them 
with  instructors?     How  could  these  ever  hope  to 


66  Life  of  The 

rise  above  their  low  condition,  or  how  could  they 
pass  the  fiery  ordeal  unscathed,  when  the  myriads 
of  temptations,  to  which  a  life  of  poverty  and 
destitution  exposes  them,  were  around  them  like 
harpies?  How  would  they  escape,  when  unpro- 
tected by  proper  religious  instructions  which  would 
serve  as  their  safeguards? 

Though  there  are  schools  for  the  poor,  with 
well-paid  teachers  fattening  on  the  spoils  wrung 
from  the  people  in  the  way  of  taxation  yet  experience 
has  demonstrated  beyond  the  possibility  of  contra- 
diction, that  the  morals  of  the  poor  who  frequent 
these  schools  are  not  improved.  Indeed,  improve- 
ment under  the  head  of  morals  should  not  be  expected 
from  them. — How  can  teachers  in  the  world,  pursuing 
a  wordly  life,  root  out  the  seeds  of  vice  and  impiety 
sown,  deeply  sown,  amid  the  haunts  of  intemperance 
and  impurity?  They  cannot  reach  the  disorder, 
for  they  are  not  clothed  with  the  sanctity  that  will 
permit  them  to  probe  to  the  bottom  the  festering 
wounds  that  are  gangrening  upon  the  face  of  society, 
and,  therefore,  they  cannot  apply  the  remedy;  but 
the  Catholic  Church,  the  mother  of  the  unfortunate, 
has  within  her  pale,  communities  of  men  and 
women  who  have  no  worldly  aims  in  view,  and  who 
devote  themselves  to  this  sacrifice  of  love:  the 
bringing  back  into  the  fold  the  strayed  sheep  of  the 
flock,  and  sending  them  forth  again,  that  their 
example  may  improve  their  associates,  and  make 
them  better. 


Rt.  Rev.  Wm.  Quarter  67 

In  order  then  to  supply  this  want — to  procure  a 
community  of  female  religious,  who  would  instruct 
and  educate  the  female  children,  Bishop  Quarter 
applied  to  Bishop  O'Connor  of  Pittsburg,  from 
whom  he  received  a  branch  of  the  order  of  the 
Sisters  of  Mercy,  established  in  that  city.  On  the 
23d  of  September,  five  members  of  the  order  of 
Mercy,  accompanied  by  their  superioress.  Sister 
Mary,  Francis  Ward  and  Very  Rev.  Walter  Quarter, 
who  had  been  commissioned  by  the  Bishop  to 
conduct  them,  reached  Chicago. — They  were  Sisters 
Mary  Agatha  O'Brien,  the  superioress  of  the  New 
Foundation,  Mary  Vincent  McGirr,  Mary  Gertrude 
McGuire,  Mary  Eliza  Corbitt,  and  Mary  Eva 
Smidt.  This  small  community  entered  at  once 
upon  their  mission  of  Mercy,  dispensing  the  rich 
stores  of  earthly  acquirements  they  had  gained  in 
the  world,  and  of  unearthly  riches  they  had  amassed 
while  clothed  with  the  habiliments  of  their  new 
vocation. 

As  an  instance  of  the  regard  for  the  happiness  of 
all  around  him,  and  the  total  absence  of  all  considera- 
tions for  self,  it  will  not  be  out  of  place  to  here 
observe,  that  on  the  day  on  which  the  Sisters 
arrived,  the  Bishop  conducted  them  around  the 
church,  and  the  building  that  was  to  be  their  convent. 
This  was  a  low  one-story  house,  neither  very  con- 
venient nor  of  very  captivating  appearance,  but  it 
was  the  best  he  had  to  offer  them.  It  had  been  his 
own  residence,  and  poor  as  it  was,  it  was  a  palace 
compared  with  the  one  to  which  he  himself  removed. 


68  Life  of  The 

when  he  resigned  it  to  them  for  their  convent. 
Could  you  have  seen  him  as  he  passed  that  round, 
watching  to  catch  but  one  expression  of  satisfaction 
upon  the  countenances  of  the  Sisters,  you  would 
have  pitied  him  had  it  not  been  given.  That  night 
he  did  not  retire  at  all :  his  anxiety  banished  sleep 
from  his  eyelids;  for  he  feared  that  they  might  be 
disappointed  at  not  finding  things  in  better  order 
for  their  coming.  Next  morning,  however,  while 
seated  conversing  with  their  superioress,  he  heard 
in  their  community-room  the  joyous  laugh,  which 
could  come  only  from  the  contented  heart:  clasping 
his  hands  as  he  rose  from  his  seat,  he  exclaimed: 
"Now  indeed  I  am  satisfied;  that  laugh  could  not 
have  come  from  the  dissatisfied." 

Dear  Bishop  Quarter,  could  there  have  been  one 
around  thee  that  had  witnessed  thy  self-denial, — 
thy  willing  poverty,  for  Christ's  sake, — thy  patience, 
thy  meekness,  thy  anxious  efforts  in  behalf  of  the 
people  committed  to  thy  charge,  and  have  been 
unwilling  to  have  divided  with  thee  the  dry  bread 
that  was  at  times  thy  only  sustenance — that  would 
not  have  been  willing  to  have  shared  with  thee  a 
poverty  that  left  thee  but  one  dime  to  be  called  thy 
own,  on  that  day  when  God  summoned  thee  to 
himself? 

The  schools  of  the  Sisters  of  Mercy  were  at  once 
opened,  and  well  attended;  and  already  the  good 
effects  of  the  wise  policy  of  Bishop  Quarter  are 
beginning  to  be  experienced.  Who  can  estimate  the 
incalculable    benefits    that    will    result    from    this 


Rt.  Rev.  Wm.  Quarter  69 

policy  in  days  and  years  yet  to  come?     God  only. 

Having  now  the  household  of  his  Diocese  in 
order,  he  summoned  a  Diocesan  Synod  of  his 
clergymen:  of  these,  thirty-two  were  present  and 
nine  absent  in  consequence  of  ill  health,  or  bad 
roads. — This  Synod  met  in  Chicago,  in  the  April  of 
this  year,  and  with  his  assistance  formed  the  Statutes 
of  the  Diocese.  Forty-one  clergymen  already  in 
this  new  Diocese!  How  must  Bishop  Quarter  have, 
laboured,  to  have  gathered  around  him  so  many 
disciples,  worthy  disciples  of  the  fishermen  of 
Galilee! — men  of  every  country  and  clime,  come 
hither  to  dispense  the  glad  tidings  of  salvation, — 
sending  up  like  incense  to  the  throne  of  heaven,  the 
praises  of  their  Creator, — and  raising  loudly  their 
voices  amid  the  late  solemn  silence  of  the  wilderness, 
or  by  the  side  of  the  streams  that  had  hitherto 
hymned  up  their  everlasting  anthems  unchorussed 
by  the  voice  of  mortal  man! 

The  convent  of  the  Sisters  of  Mercy  was  now  too 
small  for  the  accommodation  of  the  numbers  that 
flocked  to  their  schools,  and  he  therefore  commenced 
and  completed,  during  this  the  last  year  of  his  life, 
the  large  and  convenient  building  at  present  occupied 
by  the  Sisters  of  Mercy  as  their  Convent  and 
Academy.  It  was  incorporated  by  the  legislature 
in  1846,  and  possesses  a  most  ample  charter.  The 
building  is  located  in  the  most  beautiful  and  healthy 
part  of  the  city,  and  but  one  square  removed  from 
the  beach.     In  front  of  it  stretches  away,   as  far 


JO  Life  of  The 

as  the  eye  can  reach,  the  waters  of  the  beautiful 
Lake  Michigan. 

The  course  of  instruction  is  the  same  as  that 
given  in  the  best  female  schools  in  the  country. 
Ten  Sisters  are  constantly  engaged  in  this  Academy. 
The  foundation  was  begun  with  five  Sisters:  there 
are  now  sixteen  members  in  the  community,  and 
seven  applicants  who  will  be  received  very  shortly. 
Scarce  has  two  years  elapsed  from  the  time  this 
little  colony  was  sent  out  by  the  Bishop  of  Pittsburg, 
until  it  had  reached  the  maturity  of  many  old 
foundations.  Upwards  of  two  hundred  pupils  attend 
the  schools  of  the  Sisters  of  Mercy  in  Chicago. 

On  the  1 1  th  of  November  the  Theological 
Conferences  were  established  by  Bishop  Quarter, 
first  in  America.  These  Conferences  are  held  twice 
a  year,  at  Chicago,  Alton,  and  Galena.  All  the 
clergymen  in  the  Diocese  assemble  at  them,  and 
are  questioned  on  certain  tracts  of  Theology  desig- 
nated by  the  Master  of  the  Conference.  Questions 
appertaining  to  the  holy  calling  and  ministerial 
duties  of  the  Clergymen — regarding  the  Rubrics  of 
the  Roman  Missal  and  the  Statutes  of  the  Diocese — 
are  discussed  at  these  Conferences.  The  advantages 
derived  from  them  are,  that  they  keep  the  doctrines 
of  the  Church,  and  the  proofs,  fresh  in  the  minds  of 
the  teachers  of  the  people:  so  that  at  any  moment 
they  may  be  prepared  to  give  a  reason  for  the 
truth  of  their  teachings.  The  establishment  of 
these  "Conferences"  showed  alike  his  energy  and 
judgment  in  providing  for  the  welfare  of  the  Church. 


Rt.  Rev.  Wm.  Quarter  7/ 

He  eagerly  encouraged  every  means  that  might 
enhance  the  spiritual  welfare  of  every  member  of 
his  flock,  and  with  this  view  he  directed  the  Sisters 
of  Mercy  to  establish  a  Sodality  of  the  Blessed 
Virgin,  by  means  of  which  the  female  children 
might  be  gathered  together,  in  order  to  instruct 
them  in  their  religious  duties  more  thoroughly  than 
could  be  done  otherwise;  and  in  his  last  pastoral, 
from  which  I  have  already  quoted,  he  urged  upon 
his  clergymen  the  advantages  of  establishing  Sodali- 
ties of  the  same  kind  in  their  congregations,  where 
such  had  not  been  as  yet  done.     He  says: 

'"We  earnestly  recommend  the  clergy  to  establish  in  their 
congregations,  if  they  have  not  already  done  so,  "the  Confra- 
ternity of  the  Rosary,'  or  of  'the  Immaculate  Heart  of  Mary;' 
and  we  as  strongly  recommend  to  the  faithful  to  become 
members,  and  to  endeavor  to  partake  of  the  spiritual  benefits 
and  privileges  granted  to  those  societies.  Let  parents  urge 
their  children  also  to  join  those  religious  societies,  and  soon  will 
they  discover  the  happy  results,  in  their  obedience,  gentleness, 
tractableness,  and  faithful  attention  to  their  Christian  duties." 

For  the  same  purpose,  he  directed  the  instructors 
in  the  Academy  of  St.  Joseph,  to  form  among  the 
male  children  of  the  Academy  a  St.  Joseph's  Society : 

"The  exalted  virtues  of  St.  Joseph,  and  the  dignified  privi- 
leges he  obtained,  not  only  convince  us  'how  wonderful  is  God 
in  his  Saints,'  but  demand  from  us  a  relative  devotion  due  to  so 
faithful  a  servant.  And  if  our  Heavenly  Father  has  elected  him 
to  watch  over  the  tender  years  of  His  Divine  Son,  and  to  be  his 
protector;  and  if  He  has  placed  under  his  patronage  and  guard- 
ianship, the  Blessed  Virgin,  mother  of  the  same  Divine  Redeemer 
how  pleased  must  not  be  this  Heavenly  Father  to  see  us,  his 
'little  ones',  place  ourselves  under  his  protection  and  patronage. 


72  Life  of  The 

The  end  then  of  this  'Society'  is,  that  the  members  cultivate 
the  devotion  due  to  St.  Joseph;  invoke  his  intercession,  and 
regulate  their  lives  in  such  a  way,  as  that  they  may  be  worthy 
to  adopt  him  as  their  Patron.  In  order  the  more  fully  to 
attain  this  end,  the  devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin,  styled 
'full  of  grace,'  is  particularly  recommended.  Another  end  of 
this  'Society'  is,  to  collect  together  at  convenient  times  the 
pupils  of  the  'Academy,'  and  such  boys  and  adults  as  frequent 
the  Sunday  School  kept  there,  that  instructions  may  be  given 
them  in  the  principles  of  the  Religion  they  profess,  and  in  the 
doctrines  of  morality  they  are  bound  to  practise." 

I  have  said,  that  he  laboured  for  the  spiritual 
welfare  of  all  his  people.  He  laboured  also  for  their 
temporal  welfare,  and  particularly  for  that  of  his 
Irish  fellow-citizens.  His  heart  clung  fondly,  O,  how 
fondly!  to  the  memories  of  the  past.  The  associa- 
tions of  his  young  years  were  woven  round  that 
heart,  which  yearned  with  the  tenderest  regard 
towards  the  poor  and  persecuted  exiles,  that  sought 
beneath  this  happier  clime  a  home  and  a  resting- 
place.  He  laboured  earnestly  and  zealously  to 
improve  their  condition  in  this  country  of  their 
adoption,  in  order  to  make  them  worthy  the  glorious 
privileges  they  here  enjoyed.  He  saw  them,  having 
escaped  the  blood-hounds  of  power,  met  as  they 
landed  upon  the  shores  of  the  New  World,  by  the 
harpies  that  watched  for  them.  He  knew  the 
feelings  of  their  generous  hearts,  and  that  they  had 
learned  at  home  to  love  America,  her  institutions, 
amd  her  people :  but  I  say  he  saw  them  met,  as  they 
landed,  by  the  sharpers,  and  plundered  by  them  of 
the  little  left  them;  and  where  they  had  hoped  for 


Rt.  Rev.  Wm.  Quarter  73 

succor,  they  were  beggared  in  the  moment  of  their 
confidence,  and  thrown  pennyless  in  a  strangers* 
land  upon  the  cold  charity  of  the  world. 

Such  was  the  fate  from  which  Bishop  Quarter 
wished  to  save  this  people.  He  wished  to  see 
them  no  longer  the  tools  of  the  designing; — he 
wished  to  see  them  stand  forth  among  their  fellow 
freemen  in  the  majesty  of  their  nature,  asserting  the 
old  dignity  of  which  ages  of  oppression  had  not 
altogether  deprived  them :  and  therefore  he  originated 
the  Chicago  Hibernian  Benevolent  Emigrant  Society. 
This  association  was  gotten  up  to  bid  the  stranger 
welcome  to  his  new  home — to  guard  him  from 
imposition — to  advise  and  to  direct  him — to  furnish 
him  with  timely  charity,  if  need  be.  The  advantages 
which  the  immigrant  derives  from  such  associations 
are  known  only  to  those  who  may  have  been  benefited 
by  them,  and  many  an  one  will  now  be  found  to 
bless  the  memory  of  Bishop  Quarter  for  benefits 
derived  from  this  Chicago  Society. 

During  Lent  he  was  engaged  in  delivering  a 
series  of  Lectures  upon  the  marks  of  the  True 
Church. — On  Passion  Sunday  he  lectured  at  last 
mass  in  the  Cathedral  on  her  Apostolicity,  and  while 
he,  the  apostle  of  this  young  church,  stood  in  that 
pulpit,  making,  as  it  were,  his  own  profession  of 
faith;  as  the  burning  words  fell  from  his  lips,  who 
could  have  imagined  the  catastrophe  that  was 
impending? 

On  leaving  the  pulpit,  he  felt  very  much  fatigued ; 
and  at  vespers,  his  voice,  as  he  gave  his  last  blessing 


7^  Life  of  The 

to  his  people,  was  remarked  to  want  its  usual  full 
tone;  but  in  the  evening  he  conversed  with  his 
friends,  in  as  lively  a  manner  as  usual.  He  ate  a 
light  supper,  and  retired  early,  remarking,  however, 
to  Rev.  Mr.  McElhearne,  who  resided  in  the  house 
with  him,  that  he  did  not  feel  as  well  as  usual;  but 
that  he  thought  sleep  would  revive  him. 

About  2  o'clock  in  the  morning  of  the  tenth  of 
April,  Mr.  McElhearne  was  awakened  by  his 
moans,  and  hurrying  instantly  to  the  Bishop's 
apartment,  found  him  seated  on  the  edge  of  his 
bed.— He  complained  of  a  very  severe  pain  in  his 
head.  Rapidly  his  strength  seemed  failing,  and 
with  a  prudence  worthy  of  imitation,  this  zealous 
young  clergymen  proceeded,  having  sent  for  medical 
aid,  to  administer  to  his  Bishop  all  those  consolations 
which  the  Church  affords  to  her  departing  children. 

Scarce  had  this  duty  been  accomplished,  when, 
having  uttered  the  words,  "Lord  have  mercy  on  my 
poor  soul,"  the  Bishop  fell  over  into  a  deep  slumber. 
— So  thought  those  around  him:  but  alas!  it  was  a 
sleep  that  knew  no  awakening! 

When  1  entered  his  room,  his  devoted  clergymen 
of  the  city  were  around  him;  and  though  no  relative 
was  there  to  receive  his  last  sigh,  there  were  those 
beside  him  who  loved  him  dearly,  very  dearly. 
Not  a  word  was  spoken  as  I  passed  to  the  bed  side. 
The  dear  Bishop  lay  as  if  in  a  quiet  slumber.  I 
reached  for  his  arm;  explored  the  wrist  for  the 
pulse;  but  there  was  no  pulse,  and  the  cold  hand 
dropped  from  my  grasp.     I  placed  my  ear  upon  the 


Rt.  Rev.  Wm.  Quarter  75 

chest,  to  ascertain  whether  life  might  not  be  yet 
standing,  tottering  upon  the  threshold  of  eternity: 
but  I  listened  in  vain.  The  spirit  had  departed 
from  its  earthly  tenement — had  shaken  off  its 
mortal  shackles — had  passed  the  bourne:  and  that 
lately  warm  and  noble  heart  had  ceased  its  pulsations 
forever! — the  tongue  that  pleaded  so  eloquently  for 
the  truths  he  taught,  would  plead  no  more. 

I  knew  that  for  him  life's  volume  was  closed, 
but  how  could  I  speak  that  knowledge?  What  a 
scene  of  woe  would  one  simple  word  disclose!  Oh 
how  truly  is  it,  that  to  us  is  given  the  power  to 
cause  the  blush  of  hope  to  mantle  the  pale  cheek,  or 
to  speak  the  words  that  will  make  it  paler  still !  and 
how  painfully  did  I  feel  this  as  I  turned  from  that 
bed  and  whispered  the  word,  "Dead!" — and  ere  my 
startled  ear  recovered  from  the  shock  that  whisper 
made  on  silence,  it  was  re-echoed  amid  the  tears  and 
the  lamentations  even  of  those  without!  He  was 
dead!  Yes,  there  he  lay  calmly  and  quietly,  as  in 
sweet  repose.  His  spirit  had  passed  away  like  the 
zephyr's  breath,  and  there  was  a  lingering  smile 
upon  his  cold  lip,  that  told  how  happily. 

In  less  than  an  hour  the  news  of  his  death  had 
spread  over  the  whole  city,  and  in  the  evidences  of 
deep  regret  and  consternation  in  the  face  of  each 
passer-by,  you  might  have  read  the  sorrow  and  the 
surprise  that  were  so  general.  The  people  began  to 
crowd  around  his  residence  at  an  early  hour,  to 
obtain  a  look  of  all  that  was  left  of  their  Bishop. 


■/6  Life  of  1  he 

Dressed  in  full  pontificals,  his  remains  were 
exposed  in  his  residence  until  2  o'clock  of  the  second 
day  after  his  death.  Here  they  were  visited  by  all 
his  flock,  and  by  every  respectable  and  liberal 
protestant  in  the  city ;  also  by  some  of  the  protestant 
clergymen,  which  mark  of  respect,  while  it  showed 
the  regard  in  which  the  Bishop  was  universally  held, 
did  honour  to  their  hearts,  testifying,  for  them,  that 
difference  in  belief  had  not  smothered  Christian 
charity.  So  great  was  the  crowd  of  persons  who 
thus  visited  his  remains,  that  two  days  were  occupied 
in  allowing  them  to  see  him  by  turns. 

At  two  o'clock  on  the  12th,  his  body  was  removed 
to  his  Cathedral,  where  it  remained  in  state,  upon 
the  Catafalque  erected  for  the  purpose  of  supporting 
it.  It  was  placed  immediately  without  the  sanc- 
tuary, and  in  front  of  the  altar.  Upon  the  coffin 
were  deposited  the  insignia  of  his  office.  The 
widowed  Church  had  on  her  robes  of  mourning. 

During  the  time  that  the  body  remained  thus 
exposed,  masses  were  being  offered  up  for  the  repose 
of  his  soul,  or  the  solemn  office  for  the  dead  was 
being  chanted  within  the  sanctuary.  At  the  solemn 
high  mass  of  each  day  the  full-toned  organ  poured 
forth  the  Requiem,  adding  yet  deeper  solemnity  to 
the  warning  which  the  example  before  us  gave: 
Prepare  and  keep  your  houses  ready,  for  you  know 
not  the  day  nor  the  hour  wherein  the  Son  of  man 
Cometh ! 

At  3  o'clock  on  Friday,  the  Feast  of  the  Seven 
Dolors,    the   funeral   ceremonies   commenced.     The 


Rt.  Rev.  Wm.  Quarter  77 

church  was  crowded  to  suffocation  at  an  early  hour, 
and  multitudes  were  unable  to  enter  at  all ;  so  great 
was  the  desire  to  witness  the  last  sad  rites  that  she 
pays  to  those  who  have  been  the  shepherds  of  her 
sheepfold.  The  office  for  the  dead  was  chanted  by 
the  large  body  of  his  faithful  clergymen,  who  had 
gathered  in  from  their  different  parishes,  to  pay  their 
last  duties  to  the  remains  of  their  Bishop,  whom  they 
so  dearly  loved.  When  the  office  was  concluded. 
Rev.  Mr.  Feely,  then  of  Peoria,  now  of  Elgin, 
pronounced  an  eloquent  funeral  oration,  recalling 
vividly  to  the  minds  of  all,  the  character  and  virtues 
of  the  deceased  prelate. 

At  half  past  four  o'clock,  the  procession  formed 
to  conduct  the  body  to  its  resting-place.  First 
came  the  clergymen  and  ecclesiastical  students — 
then  the  body,  borne  by  six  priests — then  the 
students  of  the  University — then  the  pupils  of  the 
Academy  of  St.  Francis  Xavier — then  followed  the 
people  of  all  denominations,  sexes,  and  sizes.  It 
passed  out  of  the  church;  wound  round  to  the  rear, 
where  a  tomb  had  been  prepared  for  it  beneath  the 
sanctuary,  and  in  front  of  the  altar  which  himself 
had  reared.  The  ceremony  was  orderly  and  im- 
posing. And  when  the  clergymen  in  their  white 
surplices,  with  lighted  candles  in  their  hands,  and 
the  beautiful  little  children  of  the  Academy,  dressed 
in  white,  reminding  one  of  guardian  angels,  watching 
to  protect  us,  stood  with  lighted  candles  in  their 
hands  around  the  tomb,  while  the  body  was  being 
committed  to  its  kindred  earth,  the  effect  was  beyond 


j8  Life  of  The 

description.  All  was  as  still  as  the  grave  itself,  and 
each  eye  was  entranced,  as  if  some  vision  from  a 
better  world  had  suddenly  disclosed  itself;  until 
the  sound  of  the  coffin  touching  the  bottom  of  the 
vault  re-echoed  through  the  chamber:  then,  while 
stifled  sobs  and  groans  were  heard  amid  the  tears 
that  chased  each  other  down  the  cheek  of  childhood 
and  youth — over  the  pale  face  of  beauty — the  sun- 
burnt visage  of  manhood  and  the  wrinkled  front  of 
age — the  vision  around  that  tomb  faded  away ! 

The  ceremonies  were  ended,  the  vault  was 
closed,  and  the  seal  was  placed  upon  its  entrance, 
guarding  the  remains  of  the  great  and  the  good  man 
who  reposes  there  in  the  hope  of  resurrection,  until 
the  archangel  shall  sound  the  trumpet,  calling  up 
the  dead  to  judgment.  Then  will  we  meet  again: 
— He,  the  Pastor  who  taught  us  our  duty  to  our 
God,  our  country,  and  our  race;  and  we,  the  people 
who  will  be  obliged  to  answer  for  the  manner  in 
which  we  have  practised  his  teaching.  It  will  then 
be  well  for  us,  if  we  have  followed  and  profited  by 
his  example. 


Rt.  Rev.  Wm.  Quarter  79 


CHAPTER  VI. 

REVIEW   OF   HIS   LABOURS;   HIS   CHARACTER. — CONCLUSION. 

Thus  died  Bishop  Quarter,  in  the  prime  of  his 
life,  and  at  the  very  threshold  of  his  usefulness.  Yet 
short  as  was  his  career,  it  was  brilliant  almost 
beyond  example. — His  life  was  not  undisturbed  by 
storms,  but  in  their  midst  he  heard  a  voice  that  the 
world  does  not  hear,  and  his  frail  bark  was  guided  by 
a  hand  more  powerful  than  the  mightiest  ocean 
surge. 

Amid  all  his  trials,  he  kept  steadily  in  view  the 
great  object  of  his  mission;  and  when  he  expounded 
that  holy  book  to  the  weary  and  the  heavily  bur- 
dened; when  he  spoke  of  the  healing  of  the  blind, 
the  lame,  the  palsied,  the  leper,  and  the  beggar; 
when  he  repeated  the  sentence  of  the  pardon  of  God 
the  Father  to  the  woman  stained  with  shame;  and 
when  he  told  that  upon  the  cross  the  malefactor,  in 
his  last  hour,  obtained  the  forgiveness  of  Christ; 
when  he  spoke  of  the  ministry  of  God,  the  Son, 
upon  earth,  who  from  his  birth  to  his  death  shared 
the  griefs  and  sorrows  of  our  life,  sweetly  compas- 
sionating our  woes,  and  pleading  with  his  heavenly 
Father  for  our  redemption;  could  you,  dear  reader, 
have  seen  him  then,  with  his  sparkling  eyes  upturned 
to  heaven,  with  that  wistful  gaze  of  hopeful  reverence 
pleading  for  pardon  for  his  people  in  the  earnestness 


8o  Life  of  The 

of  his  heart,  you  could  not  doubt  the  result  of  such 
a  mission. 

Great  was  the  loss  sustained  by  the  city  and  the 
Diocese,  indeed  by  the  whole  Church,  in  his  death. 
Many  of  his  purposes  were  for  a  time  retarded. 
Already  had  arrangements  been  made  by  him  for 
adding  to  the  spacious  building  of  the  University, 
another  one  of  brick,  double  the  size  of  the  present 
one.  The  Convent  and  Academy  of  the  Sisters  of 
Mercy  was  to  have  been  increased  to  double  its 
present  dimensions.  The  ground  was  laid  out  for 
the  erection  of  a  Charity  Hospital,  and  for  an 
Orphan  Asylum,  and  the  contract  had  been  entered 
into  for  publishing  a  Catholic  newspaper  in  this  city. 
These  were  all  suspended  at  once;  for  the  master- 
spirit was  gone ! 

A  new  foundation  of  the  Sisters  of  Mercy  in 
Galena  was  projected  by  him,  and  the  necessary 
building  purchased.  This  plan  of  his,  as  well  as 
every  other  one  possible  under  the  circumstances, 
was  carried  out  by  his  worthy  brother,  the  Admin- 
istrator of  the  diocese,  and  on  the  28th  of  May,  six 
Sisters  departed  for  this  mission. 

The  day  after  his  death,  the  following  eloquent 
tribute  to  his  memory,  from  the  pen  of  a  cherished 
Protestant  friend,  S.  Lisle  Smith,  esq.,  appeared  in 
the  Chicago  Journal : 

On  Monday  morning,  at  3  o'clock,  William  Quarter, 
Bishop  of  Cliicago,  yielded  up  his  spirit  to  his  Maker.  On  the 
preceding  beautiful  Sabbath  morning,  this  faithful  servant  of 
God  stood  in  the  house  consecrated  to  the  worship  of  the  Most 


Rt.  Rev.  Wm.  Quarter  8i 

High,  and  there,  before  his  beloved  people,  fervently  proclaimed 
the  oracles  of  life. 

Scarce  had  that  Sabbath  sun  gilded  with  its  rays  the  evening 
cloud,  ere  his  ransomed  spirit  joined  in  the  melody  of  the 
heavenly  choir. 

To-day,  the  wise,  the  gifted,  the  beloved  pastor,  is  leading 
his  flock  beside  the  still  waters  of  Salvation; — to-morrow,  the 
eloquent  voice  is  still — the  beaming  eye  is  closed — the  generous 
heart  no  longer  pulsates,  and  all  that  remains  of  him,  on  earth, 
is  the  cold  and  senseless  corpse. 

Truly  the  ways  of  Providence  are  inscrutable. — Truly, 
"God  moves  in  a  mysterious  way 
His  wonders  to  perform." 

In  the  midst  of  extensive  usefulness — in  the  midst  of  a 
congregation,  by  whom  he  was  beloved — in  the  midst  of  a  com- 
munity, by  whom  he  was  respected — in  the  very  prime  of  a 
mature  and  active  manhood,  a  true — a  sincere — a  devoted 
Christian,  is,  almost  without  a  moment's  warning,  called  away 
to  his  Father's  House.  Surely  this  dispensation  of  an  all-wise 
Providence,  should  not  fall  listelessly  upon  our  ears. 

It  is  not  our  purpose  (for  we  cannot  obtain  the  materials) 
to  write  an  extended  obituary  of  this  truly  good,  and  eminently 
distinguished  man.  Other,  and  abler  pens  than  ours,  will, 
doubtless,  prepare  an  account  of  his  useful  life,  and  others  will 
do  ample  justice,  to  those  virtues  and  graces  which  adorned  his 
simple,  but  lovely  character. 

It  was  however  our  good  fortune  to  have  become  acquainted 
with  Bishop  Quarter  soon  after  his  arrival  in  Chicago,  and  we 
esteem  it  now  a  most  fortunate  circumstance,  that  we  enjoyed 
frequent  opportunities  of  improving  that  acquaintance. 

By  nature,  Bishop  Quarter  was  endowed  with  talents  of  a 
high  order;  and  laboriously  had  the  natural  powers  of  his  mind 
been  cultivated  by  unremitting  industry.  Strong  and  decided 
in  the  advocacy  of  his  own  religious  opinions,  he  was  always 
tolerant  of  the  opinions  of  others.  Charity  seemed  to  be  the 
ruling  trait  of  his  character. 


82  Life  of  The 

In  all  his  tastes  and  habits,  he  was  simple.  Enterprising 
and  perservering,  he  was  diligently  employed  in  advancing  the 
interests  of  the  Church  of  which  he  was  a  bright  ornament,  and 
in  beautifying  and  adorning  our  city,  by  the  erection  of  Schools, 
and  Colleges,  and  Cathedrals.  He  was  an  enthusiastic  friend 
of  education,  and  proved  his  devotion,  by  contributing  his  own 
small  private  fortune  to  the  advancement  of  that  noble  cause. 

As  a  divine,  he  was  learned,  logical  and  profound;  as  a 
scholar,  he  was  ripe  and  matured;  as  a  friend,  he  was  true  and 
unselfish;  as  a  Christian,  he  was  faithful,  humble,  and  sincere. 

In  the  social  circle,  he  was  beloved  by  all  who  knew  him. 
In  his  public  sphere  of  duty,  he  was  universally  admired  and 
respected.  Enemies  he  had  none;  for  his  kind  and  gentle  spirit 
disarmed  opposers,  and  converted  them  into  warm  and  devoted 
friends. 

Such  a  man's  departure  to  another  sphere,  is  a  great 
calamity.  Who  can  supply  his  place?  Who  can  in  so  short  a 
sojourn  in  a  land  of  strangers,  again  make  so  many  true  and 
sincere  friends? 

But  he  is  gone — gone  to  his  great  reward.  Peace  to  his 
ashes.     Honour  to  his  memory ! 

But  who  will  break  the  tidings  to  that  aged  father,  whose 
hoary  locks  have  long  been  ripening  for  the  grave?  Who  shall 
comfort  that  bereaved  sister,  and  that  afflicted  brother?  Alas! 
our  pen  is  arrested. — Our  hearts  are  full.  ***** 

"Many  die  as  sudden — not  as  safe." 

The  remains  of  Bishop  Quarter  lie  beneath  the 
Sanctuary,  in  front  of  the  Altar  of  his  Cathedral. 
They  are  enclosed  in  a  vault  purposely  erected  for 
their  reception.  The  body  was  embalmed  by  the 
writer  of  this  memoir.  It  is  enclosed  in  three  coffins : 
the  inner  one  is  of  black  walnut,  with  a  silver  cross 
upon  it  bearing  the  following  inscription : 


Rt.  Rev.  Wm.  Quarter  83 

"Rt.  Rev.  William  Quarter,  D.  D.,  First  Bishop 
of  Chicago.  Consecrated  March  loth,  1844:  Died 
April  loth,  1848.     Requiescat  in  Pace." 

The  vault  is  built  of  brick,  and  lined  with  water- 
proof cement.  Upon  the  top  of  it,  and  even  with  the 
floor  of  the  Cathedral,  is  placed  a  beautiful  white 
marble  cross,  about  six  feet  long.  Upon  the  top 
part  of  this  cross  is  engraved  in  bas-relief  the  Bible 
and  the  Missal  surrounded  with  a  halo  of  glory. 
Resting  upon  these  are  the  Cross  and  the  Crosier 
and  the  Mitre,  and  underneath  the  whole,  and  joined 
by  a  band  in  the  centre,  are  two  laurel  wreaths, 
which  extend  round  the  design  so  as  to  embrace 
three  parts  of  it.  On  the  horizontal  part  of  the 
cross  is  engraved  in  raised  Roman  letters  the  follow- 
ing inscription : 

"Rt.  Rev.  William  Quarter,  D.  D.,  First  Bishop 
of  Chicago.  Conscrated  March  loth,  1844:  died 
April  loth,  1848:  aged  42  years." 

On  the  lower  end  is  engraved  in  sunk  letters  the 

following:         -Requiescat  in  Pace." 

At  the  head  of  the  cross,  and  in  the  step  of  the 
altar,  is  a  marble  step,  about  two  feet  four  inches 
long,  on  the  rises  of  which  is  a  scroll  bearing  the 
following  inscription: 

"Pretiosa  in  Consepectu  Domini,  mors  sanctorum 
ejus." 

The  regard  of  the  congregation  of  St.  Mary's 
for  their  Bishop  is  evinced  in  their  liberality,  which 
has  erected  a  beautiful  Cenotaph  to  his  memory. 


84  -Li/^s  of  The 

To  this  work  the  protestants  of  the  city  contributed 
generously,  and  of  their  number  Miss  Mary  A. 
Merritt,  a  young  poetess  of  rare  gifts,  has  given  a 
volume  of  her  beautiful  poems,  the  proceeds  of  the 
sale  of  which  are  to  be  added  to  the  contributions 
already  given.  It  is  built  after  the  style  of  similar 
monuments  in  the  churches  of  Europe.  It  stands 
in  the  south  wall  of  the  Cathedral,  within  about  two 
feet  of  the  south  altar,  and  is  seven  feet  four  inches 
high,  by  four  feet  three  inches  wide,  projecting 
eight  inches  from  the  face  of  the  wall.  The  whole 
stands  upon  two  pgee  trusses  placed  about  four  feet 
from  the  floor.  Resting  on  these  is  a  small  projecting 
base,  upon  which  stands  two  plain  pilasters,  sur- 
mounted by  plain  caps  and  a  plain  Roman  arch,  the 
faces  of  which  are  on  a  level  with  the  wall  forming 
the  inner  recess.  Upon  this  arch  is  engraved  in 
bold  Roman  letters: 

"Gloria  in  excelsis  Deo." 

In  the  rear  of  the  arch  and  of  the  pilasters,  and 
constituting  the  recess,  stands  the  back  plate,  upon 
which  is  engraved  in  bold  bas-relief — the  Bible,  the 
Missal,  the  halo  of  glory,  the  Cross,  the  Crosier,  the 
Mitre,  and  the  laurel  wreath,  as  before  described. 
This  recess  is  twenty-one  inches  wide,  and  four  feet 
eight  inches  in  height.  Outside  of  the  foregoing 
work  are  the  wall  plates,  slightly  Gothic  on  the  top. 

These  plates  rest  upon  the  outer  end  of  the  base 
before  mentioned,  projecting  two  and  a  half  inches 
from  the  wall.  Against  these  and  the  plain  pilasters 
stand  a  pair  of  pilasters  projecting  outwards  about 


Rt.  Rev.  Wm.  Quarter  8$ 

six  inches,  under  and  upon  which  are  Grecian  bases 
and  capitals.  The  principal  mouldings  on  the 
caps  are  ornamented  with  cornice-leaf  engravings, 
and  upon  the  outside  pilasters  is  sculptured  an 
inverted  flambeau  in  bold  bas-relief,  and  ornamented. 
These  pilasters  and  caps  are  surmounted  by  a 
Roman  arch  and  key-stone.  The  principal  moulding 
on  the  arch  is  ornamented  with  cornice-leaf 
engravings. 

Between  the  outside  pilasters  and  resting  upon 
the  base  stands  the  Sarcophagus,  the  height  of  which 
is  three  feet  four  inches,  and  the  width  three  feet  five 
inches.  The  mouldings  on  the  caps  are  ornamented 
with  leaf-engravings.  On  the  face  of  the  Sarco- 
phagus is  sculptured  heavy  folds  of  drapery,  under 
and  between  which  is  engraved  in  raised  Roman 
capitals,  the  following  inscription : 

"Rt.  Rev.  William  Quarter,  D.  D.,  First  Bishop 
of  Chicago." 

On  the  top  of  the  Sarcophagus  stands  a  richly 
ornamented  Urn,  fifteen  inches  high;  the  whole 
presenting  a  most  beautiful  and  striking  appearance 
as  you  approach  the  altar  from  the  door  of  the 
church. 

All  this  work,  which  does  credit  as  well  to  the 
skill  of  the  workmen  as  to  the  city  in  which  it  was 
done,  was  manufactured  at  the  shop  of  A.  S.  Sher- 
man, out  of  the  finest  American  marble. 

Feebly,  however,  does  this  monument  speak  the 
feelings  of  the  hearts  of  those  who  placed  it  there; 
still  it  speaks  in  language  not  to  be  mistaken:  and 


86  Life  of  The 

while  one  Catholic  of  those  that  loved  him  whose 
memory  it  perpetuates,  comes  to  bow  before  St. 
Mary's  Altar,  as  his  eye  rests  upon  that  marble 
tribute,  he  will  offer  up  to  God  his  earnest  supplica- 
tions for  the  happy  repose  of  the  soul  of  Bishop 
Quarter. 

In  reviewing  his  brief  but  brilliant  career,  every 
one  will  be  astonished  at  the  vast  amount  of  labour 
performed  by  him  in  so  short  a  time.  The  condition 
of  the  diocese  on  his  arrival  has  been  already  noticed. 
Its  condition  imm.ediately  before  his  death,  and  his 
determination  to  improve  it  farther,  is  thus  described 
in  his  last  pastoral  address : 

"The  great  increase  in  the  number  of  the  Catholic  popula- 
tion of  this  city  may  be  inferred  from  the  following  facts:  In 
the  year  1844,  when  we  took  possession  of  this  See,  there  was 
only  one  Catholic  church  in  the  city  of  Chicago.  There  are 
now  four,  together  with  the  chapel  of  "the  Holy  Name  of 
Jesus,"  attached  to  "the  University  of  St.  Mary  of  the  Lake." 
This  one  Catholic  church,  then  under  roof,  but  not  finished, 
accommodated  all  the  Catholics  on  Sundays.  The  German 
Catholics,  the  Irish  and  American  Catholics,  assembled  within 
its  walls  to  assist  at  the  divine  mysteries,  and  were  not  pressed 
for  room.  The  German  Catholic  churches  of  St.  Peter  and 
St.  Joseph  have  since  been  built;  the  Catholic  church  of  St. 
Patrick  also,  which  has  lately  been  enlarged  by  an  addition 
capable  of  containing  as  many  as  the  original  edifice.  The 
University  of  St.  Mary  of  the  Lake  has  been  built  within  that 
time,  to  which  is  attached  the  chapel  of  the  Holy  Name  of 
Jesus;  as  also  the  Convent  of  "the  Sisters  of  Mercy,"  which 
has  its  domestic  chapel.  Now,  all  those  places,  set  apart  for 
the  worship  of  God,  and  for  the  celebration  of  the  august 
sacrifice  of  the  Mass,  are  crowded  every  Sunday  to  overflowing 
with  Catholics.     What  stronger  proof  is  needed  of  the  great 


Rt.  Rev.  Wm.  Quarter  87 

and  rapid  increase  of  Catholics  in  this  city?  But  not  only  in 
Chicago,  but  throughout  the  diocese,  is  the  increase  of  Catholics 
apparent.  Within  the  last  few  years.  Catholics  have  purchased 
here  Congress  and  other  lands  to  a  large  amount ;  and  in  various 
parts  of  the  State  of  Illinois  are  townships  owned  chiefly  by 
Catholics.— Immigration  from  Ireland,  from  Canada,  and  from 
Catholic  portions  of  Germany,  has  contributed  much  to  this 
result;  nor  is  there,  to  all  appearance,  any  likelihood  that  the 
numbers  of  such  immigrants  will  be  diminished  this  year,  or  for 
years  to  come.  Indeed,  the  calculation  is,  that  there  will  be  a 
larger  immigration  of  Catholics  to  this  State  the  present  year, 
than  any  preceding  one. 

"There  is  no  privation  so  keenly  felt  by  the  Catholic 
emigrant,  as  the  want  of  a  Catholic  church,  and  the  absence  of  a 
Catholic  priest  from  the  place  where  they  fix  their  abode,  in  a 
new  and  to  them  strange  country.  We  shall  use  our  best 
efforts  that  they  experience  no  such  privations.  We  shall 
endeavour  that  they  have,  everywhere  in  the  diocese,  the 
consolations  of  their  holy  religion." 

During  the  period  of  his  episcopacy  he  ordained 
twenty-nine  priests;  built  thirty  churches,  ten  of 
which  were  either  of  brick  or  of  stone.  He  began 
his  labours  with  six  clergymen  in  his  diocese,  and  not 
one  ecclesiastical  student;  he  left  it  with  fifty-three 
clergymen  and  twenty  ecclesiastical  students.  And 
on  all  the  improvements  made  by  him  in  Chicago, 
there  was  noi  due  one  cent  of  debt' 

What  Catholic  can  look  upon  this  young  Diocese 
without  exultation?  Here  in  these  wilds,  where, 
but  a  brief  period  since,  the  savage  yelled  his  startling 


war-whoop 
council  fire 


— where    curled    up    the   smoke    of    his 
-where  he  honoured  the  Manitou  with 


human  sacrifices  and  the  war-dance ; — is  now  hymned 


88  Life  of  The 

the  praises  of  the  God  of  the  Savage  and  the 
Christian, — is  reared  the  altar  upon  which  the  pure 
holocaust  is  daily  offered  up,  and  far  above  the  tall 
prairie  grass,  and  resting  upon  the  horizon,  is  the 
emblem  of  man's  redemption,  the  sign  to  the  way- 
worn traveller  that  civilization  is  at  hand ; — the  sign 
to  the  pilgrim,  wearied  on  his  journey  towards  the 
grave,  that  the  haven  where  he  may  rest  is  hard  by. 

And  here  through  these  wilds  passed  this  mes- 
senger of  truth  on  his  episcopal  visitations  which 
were  yearly  made,  bearing  the  glad  tidings  of  salva- 
tion to  his  people; — proclaiming  the  precepts  of  the 
Gospel  and  Christ,  and  breaking  the  bread  of  life  to 
those  hungering  by  the  way  side ; — building  churches, 
establishing  missions,  and  placing  over  them  zealous 
pastors  who  might  labour  for  that  people's  good. 

It  is  true  that  he  experienced  much  difficulty  in  so 
establishing  many  of  these  missions,  as  that  his 
priests  might  be  enabled  to  obtain  from  them  a  bare 
subsistence. — In  many  places  the  settlements  were 
thinly  populated;  the  settlers  but  recently  arrived, 
and  with  means  so  scanty  as  barely  to  enable  them 
to  provide  for  the  immediate  wants  of  their  little 
families,  and  therefore  unable,  no  matter  what  their 
desire,  to  contribute  any  thing  considerable  for 
religious  purposes.  Still  he  struggled  on,  and  God 
blessed  his  perseverance. 

He  himself  set  the  example  which  that  faithful 
priesthood  followed;  and  though  their  support  was 
bare  indeed,  they  complained  not,  but  cheerfully 
laboured  in  poverty  and  in  privations,  while  they 


Rt.  Rev.  Wm.  Quarter  8q 

knew  that  the  condition  of  their  Bishop  was  no 
better  than  their  own. 

The  settlement  of  Bishop  Quarter  reminds  us 
of  a  husbandman  going  upon  a  new  and  uncultivated 
farm,  with  very  limited  resources  and  a  full-grown 
family,  and  where  there  is  no  dwelling  and  but  a 
few  implements  of  husbandry.  There  is  stir  and 
bustle  and  confusion  and  effort,  to  build  here, — to 
clear  there, — to  plant  in  another  place.  By  and  by 
the  farm-house  will  be  reared,  the  farm  in  a  high 
state  of  cultivation,  and  well  stocked;  the  fields  will 
soon  contribute  their  rich  and  abundant  harvest,  the 
family  will  quietly  enjoy  the  fruits  of  their  former 
industry,  and  comfort  and  happiness  will  reign  around 
the  mansion.  If  the  thought  that  he  may  not  live 
to  reap  the  fruits  of  his  toil  should  flit  across  the 
father's  mind,  he  does  not  on  that  account  relax  his 
efforts;  but  he  labours  on  for  his  children's  sake; 
for  his  posterity.  In  imagination  he  sees  them 
dwelling  amid  plenty,  when  his  resting  place  is  in 
the  wet  earth  beneath  the  green  sod. 

The  people  were  the  children  of  Bishop  Quarter; 
and  though  he  might  not  live  to  gather  the  rich 
harvest  from  the  seed  he  had  sown,  he  yet  did  not 
cease  to  scatter  that  seed  with  a  full  hand;  but  he 
saw  his  children  happy  and  enjoying  the  full  benefits 
of  their  holy  faith,  their  children  growing  up  in 
virtue  and  innocence; — the  fruit  watered  copiously 
by  the  stream  "flowing  fast  by  the  oracle  of  God," 
and  he  saw  too  the  angels  gathering  up  the  immense 


go  Life  of  The 

ears  of  the  ripened  grain,  and  storing  them  away  in 
the  granaries  of  heaven. 

He  heeded  not  the  toil  nor  the  labour.  The 
glory  of  God  and  the  salvation  of  souls  urged  him 
onward,  and  for  these  great  ends  "he  travelled  by 
day  and  by  night,  in  the  wintery  cold  and  under 
the  scorching  rays  of  the  summer's  sun,  exposed  to 
the  dangers  of  the  swollen  river,  of  the  storms  and 
of  the  rain,  and  cheerfully  partook  of  the  humblest 
fare,  glad  to  repose  his  wearied  frame  upon  the 
floor  of  the  poor  man's  hut."  And  as  an  instance 
of  how  faithfully  he  discharged  every  duty  belonging 
to  his  ministry,  I  may  observe,  that  during  the  last 
winter  of  his  life  he  said  mass  every  morning  in  the 
Convent  for  the  Sisters  of  Mercy;  and  no  matter 
how  pleasant  or  unpleasant  it  might  be,  the  hour  of 
five  o'clock  found  him  at  the  altar  offering  up  the 
holy  sacrifice. 

He  was,  without  being  rash,  a  naturally 
courageous,  even  a  fearless  man.  After  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  Convent  at  Charlestown  by  a  band  of 
midnight  incendiaries,  mobs  became  the  order  of 
the  day;  even  New  York  was  threatened  with  their 
pious  efforts  to  demolish  popish  temples — with  a 
repetition  of  scenes  that  have  stained  the  escutcheon 
of  Massachusetts  forever;  and  while  one  of  these 
popular  gatherings  was  tossed  and  heaving  like  an 
angry  sea  beneath  the  windows  of  his  residence, 
preparing  to  destroy  the  church  opposite  to  him,  he 
was  seated  in  his  study,  writing  his  charity  sermon 
to  be  delivered  for  the  benefit  of  the  Eastern  Dis- 


Rt.  Rev.  Wm.  Quarter  9/ 

pensary,  a  Protestant  institution;  and  when  Rev. 
Mr.  Danaher,  his  assistant,  entering  his  room  and 
finding  him  thus  occupied,  expressed  his  astonish- 
ment at  so  much  calmness  and  composure,  while 
all  around  was  commotion  and  confusion,  Mr. 
Quarter  raised  his  eyes  from  his  manuscript  for  a 
moment,  while  he  replied  in  his  usual  bland  manner 
— "It  is  time  enough  to  think  of  escaping  when  we 
are  attacked." 

He  was  a  faithful  soldier  of  Jesus  Christ,  endowed 
with  extraordinary  moral  courage,  and  he  knew  no 
impossibilities.  Any  thing  once  determined  by 
him  was  half  accomplished.  Thought  and  action 
went  hand  in  hand,  and  his  purposes  would  be 
effected  while  many  thought  they  had  not  yet 
been  shaped. — His  eye,  once  fixed  on  any  object 
for  religious  good,  never  lost  sight  of  it. 

His  powerful  mind  comprehended  the  most 
knotty  questions  almost  at  a  glance,  and  although 
his  career  was  one  of  constant  labour,  one  in  which 
he  could  repose  only  upon  his  arms,  yet  he  was  always 
prepared  "to  give  a  reason  for  the  faith  that  was 
in  him." 

He  possessed  an  extraordinary  power  over  men's 
minds.  Though  surrounded  by  clergymen  of  dis- 
tinguished abilities,  yet  his  judgment  was  supreme; 
and  so  great  was  their  confidence  in  his  powers  of 
mental  perception,  that  it  was  always  deferred  to. 

He  was  an  affectionate  and  faithful  pastor  to  his 
people,  entering  cheerfully  into  the  examination  of 
their  wants,  and  struggling  with  his  best  energies  to 


92  Life  of  The 

remove  them,  and  to  make  these  people  comfortable 
and  happy. 

To  his  faithful  priests,  who  bore  with  him  the 
"burden  of  the  day  and  the  heat,"  he  was  even 
more  affectionate,  merciful  and  indulgent.  He  was 
well  aware  of  the  toils  and  of  the  fatigues  they  were 
obliged  to  undergo  in  consequence  of  the  extent  of 
their  missions.  He  knew  well  the  danger  to  which 
they  were  exposed  on  those  missions,  where,  without 
roads,  they  were  obliged  to  hunt  their  pathway 
through  the  prairies,  guiding  themselves  by  the  stars 
in  the  heavens,  and  often  sleeping  beneath  its  blue 
arch  with  the  heath  for  their  pillow,  and  the  howl 
of  the  prairie  wolf  around  them — without  bridges 
which  would  enable  them  to  avoid  the  madly-rushing 
current  of  the  swollen  river — exposed  to  the  rains 
and  the  fogs,  and  the  pestiferous  exhalations  of  a 
country  rank  with  festering  vegetation.  He  saw 
them  stricken  down  by  sickness  in  the  midst  of  their 
career,  and  in  places  too  where  their  danger  was 
increased  by  the  want  of  proper  care.  His  com- 
passionate heart  grieved  for  them,  and  with  his 
usual  consideration  he  formed  amongst  them  an 
association,  by  means  of  which  those  thus  afflicted 
might  be  removed  to  Chicago,  where  they  would 
receive  proper  attendance  until  health  was  restored ; 
and  if  in  Chicago  this  could  not  be  effected,  then 
funds  were  supplied  for  journeying  wherever  in 
Europe  or  America  it  might  be  necessary  that  the 
invalid  should  go.  Those  who  had  laboured  in  the 
vineyard  of  the  Lord  until  old  age  and  its  attendant 


Rt.  Rev.  Wm.  Quarter  9j 

infirmities  overtook  them,  were  supported  in  the 
evening  of  their  days ;  and  when  they  could  work  no 
longer,  by  funds  from  this  same  association. 

In  the  pulpit  his  manner  was  solemn  and  impres- 
sive, and  his  eloquent  lessons  of  Divine  Truth 
never  failed  to  reach  the  heart,  and  leave  upon  it 
impressions  that  time  could  not  efface.  The  series 
of  sermons  he  was  engaged  in  delivering  when 
death  cut  short  his  career,  were  master-pieces  of 
argument  and  eloquence,  and  the  crowded  throngs 
that  hung  upon  his  words,  thinking  no  tim.e  too 
long  to  listen,  showed  how  much  they  were  appreci- 
ated. Long  will  these  powerful  exhortations  con- 
tinue to  be  remembered.  Truly  was  his  last  sermon 
a  profession  of  faith. 

Were  I  to  write  all  that  might  be  said  in  praise 
of  the  public  career  of  Bishop  Quarter,  I  fear  i 
would  be  charged  with  the  common  error  of  biog- 
raphers, viz.,  that  of  endeavouring  to  make  their 
heroes  perfect;  and  yet  the  charge  would  in  this 
case,  as  I  have  no  doubt  it  often  is  in  others,  be 
incorrectly  made.  His  career,  however,  will  speak 
his  eulogy  in  words  more  eloquent  than  pen  can 
trace. 

It  was  in  private  life  that  the  rare  qualities  of  his 
head  and  heart  could  be  best  appreciated.  Kind, 
affable,  gentlemanly,  sincere  with  the  utmost  solici- 
tude, did  he  endeavour  on  all  occasions  to  avoid 
any  remark  or  insinuation  that  might  give  the  least 
shadow  of  offence  or  wound  the  most  sensitive:  and 


94  Life  of  The 

yet  so  firm  in  the  right,  that  his  opinion,  once 
formed,  was  not  to  be  changed  at  any  risk. 

The  remembrance  of  his  many  virtues  was 
written  in  the  faces  of  all  of  every  denomination 
who  came  to  pay  their  last  respects  to  his  remains — 
and  the  love  of  his  own  people  was  manifested  in 
the  flood  of  grief  that  overwhelmed  them  when  the 
news  of  his  unexpected  death  spread  through  the 
city.  It  was  seen  in  the  crowded  church,  in  the 
funeral  train,  in  the  tearful  eyes  of  those  who  came 
to  witness  the  performance  of  the  last  sad  rites  over 
all  that  was  left  of  the  Bishop,  who  in  the  full 
vigour  of  his  life  stood  a  few  days  ago  before  them. 

He  was  remarkable  for  his  kindness  and  for- 
bearance towards  those  who  were  without  the 
sheepfold  of  the  only  holy  Catholic  Church.  He  was 
well  aware  how  erroneous  are  the  opinions  enter- 
tained by  them,  respecting  the  doctrines  and  prac- 
tices of  that  Church.  He  knew  that  they  were 
taught  to  consider  doctrines  as  cherished  by  us 
which  we  regard  with  a  horror  even  greater  than 
their  own,  and  making  every  allowance  for  the 
fact  that  they  were  taught  these  errors  from  their 
childhood  upwards,  that  they  had  been  repeated  to 
them  so  often  as  to  constitute  almost  a  part  of  their 
religious  belief,  he  wondered  only,  that  while  they 
supposed  Catholics  to  be  so  impious,  they  could  be 
even  as  tolerant  of  them  as  they  were; — that  while 
they  charged  them  with  superstition  and  idolatry, 
and  every  crime  in  the  calendar,  they  could  even 
imagine  that  a  Catholic  had  any  hope  of  Heaven. 


Rt.  Rev.  Wm.  Quarter  95 

He  was  not,  therefore,  surprised  at  the  distrust 
with  which  Protestants  look  upon  the  Catholic 
Church;  and  he  on  this  account  treated  their 
prejudices  with  becoming  charity,  confident  that 
their  distrust  did  not  proceed  from  the  heart,  but 
from  the  errors  of  their  early  education;  and  he 
endeavoured,  whenever  an  opportunity  offered,  to 
remove  the  cause  of  this  prejudice  by  explaining  to 
them  what  were  truly  and  really  the  doctrines  of  the 
Catholic  Church.  The  increased  liberality  of  the 
community  now  so  remarkable  in  Chicago,  demon- 
strates the  wisdom  of  the  course  that  seemed  to  him 
so  correct. 

Protestants,  he  often  remarked,  do  not  in  reality 
hate  Catholic  doctrines.  They  hate  only  what  the 
enemies,  the  malicious  ignorant  enemies  of  the 
Church  for  which  Christ  died,  represent  as  belonging 
to  Catholics  and  Catholic  doctrines.  But  when  the 
veil  defiled  by  these  slanders  is  removed  from  the 
face  of  the  beautiful  SpDuse  of  Jesus  Christ,  when 
the  light  of  her  lovely  countenance,  beaming  with 
a  heavenly  radiance,  falls  upon  their  hearts;  they 
can,  even  as  ourselves,  appreciate  that  loveliness 
which  time  cannot  dim,  but  which  increases  for  ever. 

It  has  been  frequently  asked,  how,  with  so  little 
means.  Bishop  Quarter  accomplished  so  much. 
None  but  a  Catholic  Bishop,  aided  by  zealous 
Catholic  priests,  could  have  done  the  same.  They 
had  no  families  to  support,  no  worldly  appearances 
to  keep  up;  and  they  imitated  the  poverty  of  their 
divine  Master,  contented  to  live  in  need,  often  upon 


g6  Life  of  The 

hard  dry  bread,  so  that  they  might  give  all  they 
possessed  to  the  advancement  of  that  holy  cause 
on  which  their  hearts  were  fixed.  What  could 
retard  the  progress  of  the  Church  that  was  supported 
by  such  self-devotion  and  sacrifices — that  Church 
which  had  the  promise  of  the  Holy  Ghost  to  sustain 
her  for  ever — against  which  "the  gates  of  hell 
cannot  prevail?" 

Many  kind,  and  generous  and  liberal  Protestant 
gentlemen  of  the  city,  aided  him  much  by  donations 
and  encouragement;  and  to  Messrs.  \V.  B.  Ogden, 
W.  Newberry,  and  J.  Y.  Scammon,  Esqs.,  the 
Catholic  Church  of  Chicago  owes  a  great  debt  of 
gratitude,  and  one  which  will  not  be  soon  forgotten. 
Besides,  he  was  liberally  assisted  by  that  staunch 
friend  of  his  own,  James  Kerrigan,  Esq.,  of  New 
York,  while  the  funds  and  the  energies  of  his  dearly 
loved  brother.  Very  Rev.  Walter  J.  Quarter,  were 
always  at  his  disposal. 

By  "an  inscrutable  decree  of  Divine  Providence," 
however,  he  was  called  away,  in  the  midst  of  his 
usefulness,  to  make  room  for  a  worthy  successor.* 
How  lamentable  is  it,  that  the  catastrophe  was  so 
sudden!  How  precious  would  have  been  the  words 
of  such  a  man,  as  he  calmly  contemplated  the 
passage  to  "that  land  whence  no  traveller  returns!" 
Oh!  it  is  at  the  last  hour  of  life,  when  the  world  is 
fast  fading  from  the  view,  and  the  morning  of 
eternity  is  dawning,  that  the  admonitions  of  the  good 
are  like  the  prophetic  warnings  of  old,  which  warm 

*  Rt.  Rev.  Jas.  Vandevelde,  D.  D.,  now  Bishop  of  Chicago. 


Rt.  Rev.  Wm.  Quarter  qy 

the  heart  to  virtue,  and  make  it  better.  It  is  then 
that  we  feel  the  littleness  of  all  here  below,  and  the 
greatness  of  the  reward  that  may  be  ours  in  heaven. 

He  is  gone,  but  how  richly  does  he  merit  our 
gratitude!  He  has  left  us  a  priceless  inheritance  in 
our  College  and  our  Convent,  where  our  children 
may  receive  the  religious  instructions  that  will  fit 
them  for  the  discharge  of  their  duties  in  this  world, 
and  their  rewards  in  the  next; — but  more  than  all, 
he  has  left  us  his  example. 

Yesterday  he  stood  like  a  tall  column  firm  upon 
its  base,  and  pointing  its  beautiful  shaft  to  the 
heavens;  to-day  that  column  is  broken  in  its  midst, 
and  prostrated  to  the  earth.  Yesterday  he  was 
in  life  before  us;  to-day  he  lives  in  our  memories. 
To  die  as  a  hero  dies,  is  a  glorious  death ;  but  to  die  as 
died  this  faithful  champion  of  the  cross,  after  having 
sealed  his  ministry,  was  still  more  glorious.  "Oh 
God!  as  is  the  heroism  of  thy  armies,  so  is  the 
grandeur  of  thy  triumphs.  How  poor  is  the  splen- 
dour that  crowns  earthly  conquests,  to  the  opening 
of  the  gates  of  pearl,  leading  into  the  Golden  City 
with  walls  of  sapphire  and  chrysolite,  in  which  the 
great  Captain  sitteth  upon  the  white  throne,  smiling 
upon  his  servants  who  have  'fought  the  good  fight 
and  kept  the  faith!'  The  wreaths  that  crown  the 
brows  of  mortal  victors  fade  before  the  night; 
theirs  lose  not  their  fragrance  forever,  and  their 
beauty  is  eternal." 


g8  Life  of  The 

The  following  beautiful  and  touching  lines  from 
the  pen  of  Miss  Merritt,  whose  name  has  been 
already  mentioned,  form  a  fit  conclusion  to  this 
memoir. 

MEMORIAL  OF  ^  WILLIAM, 

Bishop  of  Chicago. 
"Sorrow  not  as  those  without  a  hope." 

Now  all  is  over!  to  the  requiem 

Of  the  deep  organ,  solemn  in  its  swell, 
They  bore  him  onward  to  the  chamber  dim, 

Our  Fiiend — our  Father — he  that  loved  us  well ! 
Never!  ah,  never!  shall  as  kind  a  glance 

Send  us  the  greeting  his  was  wont  to  send : 
O'er  the  calm  brightness  of  his  countenance 

The  chilling  shadows  of  the  grave  descend. 

His  form  is  resting  'neath  the  saintly  shade 

Of  shrine  and  altar  that  he  helped  to  rear; 
Within  their  silence  he  hath  knelt  and  prayed. 

And  it  is  fitting  we  should  lay  him  here. 
So  may  the  organ's  wild  and  thrilling  peal 

A  mournful  requiem  o'er  his  slumber  pour, 
"While  our  hushed  spirits  thrill  again  to  feel 

His  presence  near  us,  though  of  earth  no  more. 

But  yesterday  we  looked  upon  his  face 

Lit  up  and  kindling  with  the  earnest  soul — 
But  yesterday  within  his  wonted  place, 

From  lips  now  silent,  words  of  fervour  stole. 
Never!  ah,  never!  shall  their  accents  fall 

Upon  the  stillness  of  the  Sabbath  air, — 
The  smile — the  greeting — these  have  vanish'd  all, 

That  place  is  vacant  by  the  shrine  of  prayer. 


99 


Rt.  Rev.  Wm.  Quarter 

We  might  not  kneel  beside  him  at  the  last. 

To  win  a  blessing  from  his  soul  to  ours, 
Ere  the  Dark  Angel's  pinions  o'er  him  past, 

In  the  dim  silence  of  the  midnight  hours; 
No  word  of  parting  on  our  hearts  might  sink, 

To  still,  of  sorrows,  this  the  deepest  one, 
Yet  may  we  triumph  in  our  woe  to  think 

His  latest  whisper  was,  "They  will  be  done!" 

Yes!  on  our  sorrow  breaks  a  fervent  tone, 

An  inward  breathing  to  the  spirit  borne. 
Far  thro'  the  shadow  is  a  star-beam  thrown, 

To  lead  us  upward  to  the  clime  of  morn; 
There  led  his  pathway  through  the  midnight  veil, 

Unto  the  fulness  of  a  Love  Divine; 
Now  may  Faith's  whisper,  thrilling  low,  prevail 

O'er  earthly  conflict,  with  a  heavenly  sign. 

And  yet,  oh,  Father!  we  have  lost  in  thee 

All  that  which  language  has  no  power  to  name : 

For  us  thy  heart  beat  true  and  fervently- 
Through  change,  and  coldness,  thou  wert  still  the  same. 

Now  are  our  souls  supremely  desolate, 

Since  gone  the  presence  and  smile  that  blest, 

And  wo!  for  those  on  whom  the  chastening  weight 
Falls  like  a  shadow,  long  and  dim,  to  rest. 

Yet  thou — within  thy  soul's  effulgent  realm. 

Know'st  not  the  sadness  thro'  our  spirit  breathed; 
But  vain!  oh  vain!  its  clouding  to  o'erwhclm 

They  blessed  memory  unto  us  bequeathed ; 
With  those  who  loved  thee  it  shall  be  a  spell 

Of  holy  influence  shrined  within  the  heart. 
Uplifting  thought  from  earth,  and  earth's  farewell, 

To  the  eternal  dwelling  where  thou  art. 

M.  A.  M. 


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